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Technological advancements of the
21st
century
has
completely
transformed how the world works
today. Disrupting the old work logic
of trying to lead in the same old, tried
and tested way, knowing the right
answers and owning unshared
uncertainties, it is now being
replaced by the notion of having
shared uncertainties, asking the right
questions, embracing diversity to
grow stronger together. The future is
certainly not what it used to be, it is
nowand it is female!
W hile it is a no-brainer that diversity
enables disruption be it any industry
or socio-economic landscape and
quickens the pace of growth,
Mckinsey reports that although
companies
remain
committed,
progress on gender diversity at the
workplace has stalled. W ith women?s
economic empowerment being the
buzzword, women ? according to the
global consulting management firms
? are doing their share of work,
asking for promotions, negotiating
salaries and staying put in their jobs,
the limelight is on companies to step
up and make good on their word.
Innovation and more importantly
disruption requires giving diversity a
structure within organizations in
order to implement it successfully at
the workplace. ?Diversity is not easy,
we need to be conscious about it
and that is why it should be
mandated from the very top. It is not
a CSR initiative that is ?good?to have,?
had opined Pfizer?s Oralee Alemi at
the Women In Leadership Forum
2018 (W IL Forum?s panel on Building
and Leading A Diverse Team). A 2017
Mckinsey report on diversity and
financial performance states: ?Gender
diversity is correlated with both
profitability and value creation.?

It is equally important to realize and acknowledge
that the interplay of gender with access to
opportunities, education, healthcare etc. not just
bolsters the sustainable development agenda, it is
the only way forward. Working together is key,
lifting one another ? the only solution, celebrating
intersectionality
champions
equality
and
embracing inclusion empowers!
This International Women?s Day, we celebrate one
another and most importantly ? we celebrate
ANANKE ? a platform fostered by its core team of
interns ? past and present, collaborators,
contributors and story-makers.
Sabin Muzaffar
Founder/ Executive Editor

I WD2019
A Ti me To Look Back & Forw ard

International Women?s Day is marked annually on March and is a significant day
movement for women?s rights. The day serves as time to reflect on the achievements of
women and their contributions in the development of their communities. It is a time to
reflect on current and future challenges that women are faced with in their struggle for
emancipation and liberation from the deeply entrenched patriarchal systems and
structures that profoundly impact on everyday life. Women and girls are a vulnerable
group and therefore every success should never be taken for granted. Women are highly
educated in developed nations however this has not led to economic equality, women
continue to undertake the bulk of unpaid care work and are underrepresented in both
leadership and governance.
I have recently been awarded my Master of Human Rights and during my time studying
for this award, I applied for Empower Women?s Global Champions for Change program.
Interested applicants were required to participate in a month-long rally to promote
women?s economic empowerment. There were over 600 applicants during this phase.
W hen it was announced who had been selected, I looked through the list of selected
applicants and found my name on the list. This was an extremely empowering moment
for me. The initial tenure was for six months, however Empower Women extended our
time for a further three months. During these nine months, my cohort and myself had
built good rapport and we worked closely together advocating for women?s economic
empowerment and women?s rights. We continue to support one another?s work.
I would like to take this moment to thank the team at UN Women?s Empower Women for
the support they gave myself and my cohort during our tenure. It was through this
program that I met founder of Ananke Magazine, Sabin Muzzafar. Sabin kindly took me
under her wing and offered me regular work at Ananke Magazine. Although Sabin is
based in the UAE and myself in Australia, I believe our positive working rapport and the
diversity within Ananke has had a positive impact. Together we have run several
internship programs, mentoring women from around the globe. I would also like to thank
Mandy Sanghera, Gladys Muthara, Liz Guntai and Mary Mshai who have contributed and
supported Ananke Magazine. To our interns, it has been a pleasure to work with you and
we are extremely grateful that you have faith in what we do at Ananke Magazine. A very
big thank you to all whom have made contributions to Ananke Magazine. W ithout your
stories, it would not be possible to sustain our work. To those who take the time to read
the content we publish, we also appreciate you. Ananke Magazine was recently
nominated for the prestigious WSISprize. W hether or not we progress to the final 72, we
are extremely grateful that our work has been recognised.
For me, International Women?s Day, is a day to reflect and pay gratitude to the people
who believe in what you do and what drives you to envision change in your community
and throughout the world. It is a time to celebrate the progress
women have made, to honour the trailblazer?s who work selflessly
to improve the lives of women and girls.

Melanie Bublyk
Editor at Large
Ananke Magazine

M ESSA GE

M ari am A l
Hammadi ,
Di rector of th e Bi g
Heart Foundati on
The International Women?s Day comes as an annual reminder that the advancement of women?s
role and status in socioeconomic and cultural life is a prerequisite for comprehensive and
sustainable development.
Despite a series of upheavals experienced by many countries in the last decade, concerted
efforts were made to achieve stronger rates of female participation in economy and society.
Creation of appropriate job opportunities to suit women?s skillsets and other requirements,
formulation of women?s empowerment programmes to build their academic, professional and
entrepreneurial capacities, and making their voices heard on important global platforms has
resulted in a more conducive and supportive environment for their continued progress across
sectors.
However, women continue to encounter challenges, especially in education, employment and
security. According to some reports, lack of educational opportunities for girlsis costing t he
global economyabout 1 billiondollars every year. It is true that International Women?s Day is an
important day to recognise women?s longstanding struggles through history to gain their rights
as influential members of society, but how will most nations achieve a good rate of growth if half
the population is unable to receive an education?
If women are denied their right to education, especially in developing nations, it will pose a
major impediment to their personal and professional development, thereby reflecting on the
nation. W hat will the future look like with 31 million girls out of school worldwide? This figure is
equivalent to more than half the world's children who are not enrolled in school.
These figures are alarming, and elicit immediate corrective action. Together, we must make the
efforts required to celebrate International Women's Day the way it deserves to be celebrated. By
ensuring that we safeguard the rights and dignity of all women worldwide to ultimately
safeguard the interests of entire communities.

Tell us about W iki Women in Red?
W hen and w hy w as it launched?
Women in Red is an international
community launched on July 18, 2015
in Mexico City, Mexico during
W ikimania, the annual W ikipedia
conference. The idea came to Roger
Bamkin and me, the co-founders, as an outgrowth of
the work we had been doing with others on W ikipedia
every March (Women's History Month) in 2012, 2013,
and 2014. After seeing statistics in December 2014 -that women's biographies accounted for only about
15% of W ikipedia's biography articles -- we decided to
not only talk about this systemic bias issue during a
session at W ikimania, but to do something bold about
it. We announced that we had just formed Women in
Red a project dedicated to supporting editors every
day of the year who would write articles about
women: their biographies, their works, and their issues,
broadly-construed. Women in Red refers to redlinks,
which on W ikipedia, refer to missing articles.
W hy is it import ant to have more stories and
informat ion regarding women especially in t he
digit al realm?

We live in a digital world. How women are represented is a
people issue, a business issue, a moral issue... it is definitely
not just a woman issue. Few women were mentioned in the
history books of early centuries, but it is a historical
misrepresentation to limit women's contributions from the
modern-day digital platforms, such as W ikipedia.
W hat in your opinion does HERstory ent ails?
HERstory shines a light on women: their biographies, their
works, their issues. We can look at scores of digitized Public
Domain google books that provide information about
prominent men of yesteryear. W ith HERstory, we can learn
about notable women.
How far has W ikipedia come in terms of creat ing
HERstories after W iki Women in Red?
In December 2014, Roger Bamkin and I saw the first
published academic article which gave a percentage of women's vs.
men's biographies: approximately 15%. By March 2019: we have "moved
the needle" to 17.8% of all English-language W ikipedia biographies.
W hat are some of t he major milestones t hat W iki Women in Red has
achieved so far?
Since the establishment of Women in Red in July 2015:
1. The W iki Women in Red movement has created more than
80,000 articles on English W ikipedia regarding women.
2. Thousands of other articles have been created by 18 other
language versions of W ikipedia (Albanian, Assamese, Catalan,
Chinese, Croatian , Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian ,
Norwegian, Persian, Serbian, Spanish, Tamil, Thai, Ukrainian, and
Urdu).
3. The W iki Women in Red community has uploaded thousands of freely-licensed
photos of women to W iki Commons.
4. We have more than 400 lists of missing articles regarding notable women.
5. We have a robust talkpage (online forum) which is a harassment-free zone. The
talkpage alone has had:
A. 109K page views
B. Almost 13K edits
C. 514 unique editors
D. A daily average of 83 view
6. In 2016, Women in Red was shortlisted for the GEM-TECH award by ITU/ UN
WOMEN because of our work in: "Applying Technology for Women's
Empowerment and Digital Inclusion"
W hat are some of t he challenges w hen it comes to creat ing HERstories?
As part of the W ikimedia Foundation's first ever gender diversity mapping project in 2017,
I interviewed 65 diversity leaders in the movement and the consensus is that our biggest
challenges is coping with W ikipedia's outdated and biased policies regarding Notability,
Reliable Sources, and catagorization. Other significant challenges to furthering gender
equity include the difficulty to communicate around gender, which is so

culturally-informed and expressed; the lack of awareness of gender bias; poor
community health; lack of support for gender equity work; and a lack of diversity in
leadership.
Tell us how we can all help in generat ing content relat ing to women, document ing
t heir achievement s?
Off-wiki events are a highly-effective way of not only generating content related to
women, but also to inspiring and training newcomers. Developing partnerships with
other organizations and including them in your wiki work can be an effective way to
centralize marginalized communities and intersectional knowledge. Choosing themes for
online collaborations is a good motivator; Women in Red facilitates three to five online
thematic events per month. Tracking numeric metrics is important: number of new
articles, improved articles, participants at each event, and so forth. But even more
important, we need to be cognisant of transformational metrics: who feels invited, who
feels inspired, who feels like stepping forward to be become a program leader.
Developing and maintaining safe spaces in online and in-person wiki activities is
imperative as is the recognition that advancing equity is an intersectional effort that
extends
beyond
gender.
Promoting the articles that are being created through social media is a HUGE part of our
work, and we could really use more support. For example, we are new to Instagram and
would welcome some help with that.
W hat role, in your opinion, can document ing women t railblazers' play in women's
empowerment ?
It's easier for a girl to see herself as a writer if she reads about women writers, and the
same is true about scientists, artists, politicians, and every other occupation. W hen girls
read about the suffrage movement and see that women have overcome the struggle
associated with the right to vote, they feel more confident that they can overcome the
struggles of their day, such as the # MeToo movement. W hen girls read about the
conferences that women convened, the schools they founded, the newspapers they
established in the years before the internet, they are more confident about doing
something unique instead of walking away from difficulty.
Can you guide us about generat ing dat a on W ikipedia?
Women in Red uses various bots and other forms of AI to generate data. Learn more
about our metrics here. We useORESAI for article assessment campaigns.
Anyt hing w ish to add.
I want to punctuate the fact that everyone is welcome to be a part of Women in Red;
EVERYONE. I also want to thank you for the opportunity to share this information with
your readers; and to let you know that questions, comments, suggestions and feedback
are welcomed and appreciated.

Perf ormati v e Femi ni sm

M ardi ya Si ba Yah aya traces th e
roots of f emi ni sm, i ts ev ol uti on
and a commodi f i cati on of f emi ni st
th i nk i ng i n a post modern soci ety.
Mardiya Siba Yahaya
Feminism as a movement has undergone a series of
evolutions in terms of how activism is carried out. In its
early stages, during the 19th and 20th century, it was
associated with the temperance and abolitionist
movements and gave voice to now-famous activists. It
was during these moments where works by activists
like Sojourner Truth was recognized. W hile first-wave
feminism focused on achieving legal rights for women,
such as voting rights and the right to participate in
leadership positions; Second-wave feminism which
began during the 1960s rallied around women?s
experiences including family, work, sexuality etc.
(Burkett, 2019).
During this period, women engaged themselves in
writing feminist theories where they captured their
experiences and deconstructed ideologies that were
formed by systems of domination. This was the era
where creativity was significant to the feminist
movement, and the creative landscape has persisted
until today - the fourth wave of feminism.
Feminism, just like any other social movement is
influenced by the trends of that particular era . In the
technological age of feminism, digital advocacy and
activism have shaped campaigns significantly. I, for
one, was first introduced to feminist through a digital
landscape. I met my feminist icons through this space
and I also engage in movements through digital
advocacy. Technology has shaped the way activism
carried out, and it has also created space for many
forms of activism through poetry, music, articles,
hashtags, etc.
For some time, being a ?Feminist? or an ?Equal rights
advocate? became the new cool, which made the
movement more popular than it had ever been in a
while. Social media catalyzed the movement until it
attracted political attention. Activists used hashtags to
rally people behind different causes, and political
institutions have never been under such extreme
pressure to take a stance. This stance has also meant
reforms in policies that dehumanize and marginalize
women and other genders in various institutions.

Movements like # Metoo have also created more
pressure on corporates to revisit their policies on
sexual harassment and countries like China, which
had never had a law allowing women to press
charges against sexual harassment, have finally
added this clause.
The progress seemed very compelling until,
feminism, as mentioned previously became the new
?cool.? This new trend, where ?women?s rights?
became the politically correct stance to take; we saw
this very progress we have fought to achieve turn into
a capitalist scheme.
In 2018, Davido, a Nigerian Afrobeats artist released a
song called ?Wonder woman?, that?s claimed to
celebrate women. He is one the many artists who
have used their music to supposedly ?celebrate?
women. W hile I do not deny the authenticity of some,
I do question the song made by this very afrobeats
artist. Apart from the fact that he was following the
new capitalist scheme, the song created this idea of
hyper humanizing women. Meanwhile, 2nd, 3rd and
4th wave feminists, in capturing their experience
through theory, highlighted the reason why calling a
woman ?strong? was problematic. The ?strength? of
women was and has been used as a weapon of
abuse and also used to disregard/ reduce the
struggle that most of these women would instead
have not gone through.
Fashion brands that historically propagated beauty
standards have also begun to leverage on the new
trends where women, who did not previously fit into
their original ideals of beauty such as plus size,
dark-skinned, and kinky-haired women, are being
uplifted. They have capitalized on the idea of
?self-love? to sell their products. It has become less
about women and dismantling hierarchies of
domination and more of a marketing and sales
scheme.

These brands know what Millennials and fourth wave
feminists want to hear and see, and have given us
exactly that. W hile within their institutions there are
still powers of domination, especially through
capitalism and racism. There is very little
transformative politics, and we can attest that despite
the progress we have made towards dismantling
systems of domination they continue to persist more
than ever and adapt to each situation respectively.
However, we must acknowledge that the
capitalization of feminism is not a recent thing. In Bell
Hooks?book ?Teaching to Transgress?, she talks about
how during the 2nd and 3rd wave feminism, a time
where feminism was mostly theoretical, there was
commodification of feminist thinking. She wrote, ?
W ithin white supremacist patriarchy we have already
witnessed a commodification of feminist thinking in
ways that make it seem as though one can partake of
the ?good? that these movements produce without
any commitment to transformative politics and
practice.? This means that for us to be able to truly
champion change, there is a need for transformative
politics and practice; which is social change as a
philosophical, practical and strategic process to
affect revolutionary change. W hen we continue to
live in a society that is more ?thing-oriented? rather
than ?person-oriented? , where machines, profit
motives and computers matter more, as described by
Martin Luther King Junior, dismantling systems of
domination becomes almost impossible to achieve.
Nonetheless, this can only be achieved when there is
a true revolution of values.
The recognition of feminism in the mainstream,
without doubt, is progressive in its own way. In her
recent talk, ?The future of feminism must be fearless,
illuminating and global-minded? Mina Salami states
that, ?the mainstream seems to promote about
feminism: an image of women having achieved so
many rights that they can now be problem-free,
apolitical and unconcerned and just carry on

polishing their egalitarian household kitchen tables with Ariel (SIC)? . The
commercialisation of the movement has painted an image where we have reached our
?Talos?, which we are quite far away from. We must also understand that, there has not
been a single social movement in history that has achieved 100% support. Focusing on
the true believers of the course, to drive change is essential.
To achieve a true revolution, feminism must transcend the social, political and economic
empowerment of women, to attaining psychological and spiritual freedom which will
enable us dismantle the systems of domination. The psychological and spiritual freedom
of marginalized genders, as described by Mina Salami, will allow us to thrive and surpass
oppression and the systems that hold it in place.
A former Ananke intern, Mardiya is a creative writer, a feminist and her own revolution. In
between school work and reading African and Feminist literature, Mardiya writes articles
that highlights issues in gender, politics, media and education. She also explores the
possibilities of exponential technologies such as blockchain and Artificial Intelligence and
their place in the future of activism.

Tell us a lit t le about yourself, how and
w hen did you embark on your literary
journey?
I grew up surrounded by books? mostly
classics? and a love of period drama, pop
culture, comedy, and crime. Ever since I can
remember, I?ve been fond of writing as a form
of self expression and I?ve worked as a
freelance writer and editor for years.
Austenistan was my debut into fiction. It?s an
anthology inspired by our love for Jane
Austen and mostly set in contemporary
Pakistan. I curated and edited the collection
and wrote one of its seven stories, On The
Verge, and played a role in its promotion. Its
success came as a surprise, we wrote it for
ourselves.
You founded t he Jane Austen Societ y of
Pakist an, could you tell us a bit about it ?
We?re a whimsical literary group, a mix
between a book club and a sisterhood of
sorts. We started off as an online community
and that?s been essential for staying in touch
and sharing ideas. We meet up in person a
few times a year? so far it?s been Lahore,
Islamabad, Karachi, and
London? and
annually with a Cosplay tea party. It?s all
about great energy, similar wavelengths and
insightful discussions, yet we don?t take
ourselves very seriously and are always up
for a laugh!
We?ve been covered by the BBC, NPR, The
Times, Sky Arts, two Pakistani newspaper
editorials, and an FPA Award nominated
essay in The Economist?s 1843 magazine. In
the Emirates, we were covered twice by the
Khaleej Times W KND and Dubai Eye 103.8?s
Talking of Books respectively, and I was a
guest author at the Sharjah International
Book Fair 2018.

Austenist an... it is an interest ing term and
we see it s immense relevance especially
in Eastern societ ies; one t hat w as not just
under colonial rule but also possessing
deeply rooted pat riarchal belief systems,
we?d love to know your opinion and w hat
parallels you draw bet ween Austen?s
t hought processes and modern societ y bot h in Eastern and Western context ?
Contemporary Pakistani society and Jane
Austen?s Regency England of two centuries
ago are overlapping domains: social codes
and the all-important marriage mart, class
distinctions, emphasis on reputation and
eligibility, a social season with all its
fripperies, etiquette and snobbery. On a
grimmer note, there?s still social and
financial restrictions placed on women?s
autonomy, and considerable misogyny.
We?re
twenty-first
century
women
navigating the old and the new? inherited
traditions with a progressive outlook. It?s a
juggling act that requires plenty of finesse
and an appreciation for the ludicrous.

stereot ypes, unconscious and conscious
biases as well as lack of bodily or
financial autonomy, w hat role in your
opinion has literat ure played as far t he
st at us of women in societ y is
concerned?
This is a vast subject and I don?t think I
can do justice to it in a few lines! I think
fiction has always mirrored certain
aspects of society while entertaining
readers with fascinatingly fleshed out
characters in situations one can often
empathize with. Some of my favourites
are still frighteningly relatable in terms of
women?s social vulnerability and the
abuse of power in marriage and
economics: The House of Mirth, Jane Eyre,
Sense and Sensibility, Madame Bovary,
Anna Karenina, andMiddlemarch.

However, literature cannot be held
accountable to convey reality? that?s the
whole point of fiction. It?s art, it?s
entertainment, it?s an intentionally biased
form of expression. It?s meant to be
Talking about pat riarchy and role of enjoyed, meant to make you think, meant
women in societ y ruled by gender to make you question, meant to make you

feel. It?s not meant to be an accurate
representation of social ills, inequalities, and
class disparities.
Talking about a very personal and sensit ive
topic but one t hat must be given public space
so t hat such issues are highlighted; you have
been embroiled in a heart breaking and
nerve-w racking (to say t he least ) event in your
personal life. We recent ly read t hat t he
divorce has been finalized after such a long
t ime. You come from a privileged background
- by t hat we mean you are highly educated
and are famous in your ow n right - but you
had to go t hrough so much. It makes us
wonder about t he plight of ordinary women
fight ing for her right to divorce, and issues of
int imidat ion and power play. W hat are your
t hought s?
I call it an awakening. I made the difficult
decision to venture beyond my protective
social bubble, to reject gendered hypocrisy,
and to navigate the ugliness of our patriarchal
national mindset and web-like legal structure.
I?m paying dearly for it but at the same time I?m
no longer chained to a gilded cage. To put it
simply, the system and its various institutions
seem to work against women?s interests while
making it pretty easy for entitled men of wealth
and influence. Mountains of red tape choke you
into helplessness and despair. In my case, the
choking also happened to amplify my voice.
I?ve met with women from disparate
socioeconomic levels at every courtroom I?ve
been to, from the civil level to high courts and
the Supreme Court, in Islamabad and Lahore
(Pakistan). From what I?ve encountered, it
seems that women?s legal oppression is
prevalent among every social class and
community. This includes abusive marriages,
bigamy and polygamy, stolen properties, a
failure to obtain inheritance, a lack of child
support, no alimony, no dower, hindrances in
obtaining divorce. And of course, women of
limited means, access, and education have it
far, far worse. The level of injustice and ongoing
cruelty is shocking. Pakistan lags far behind
many other Muslim majority countries for
adequate child support, alimony, and many

other basics.
I get approached by all kinds of people,
women and men, in abusive situations
wanting to confide in me and ask for advice
but they?re often preoccupied with societal
opinion and other repercussions, and
understandably so. This level of social
blackmail is suffocating and infuriating.
W hat needs to be done to empower
women in terms of issues of divorce,
children?s custody - do you t hink t he law s
and policies in Pakist an are inclusive or
t hey need to be amended or properly
implemented?
Not only are women, whether educated,
semi-educated, or illiterate, largely unaware
of how to obtain their basic rights? including
myself until I hired lawyers? but the actual
implementation of laws that claim to protect
women in this country is a nightmare and a
half.
I?ve also seen that people from older
generations have stayed mum on things
traditionally
regarded
as
shameful.
Endurance is considered a virtue in this
society but it ends up creating the twin
tumours of bitterness and resentment.
There?s a lot of fatalistic it?s-a-mans-world
shrugging off of basic human decency that
my generation is less tolerant of. Xennials
aren?t convinced that life ends at 40 and
we?re not ready to dig our own graves just
yet.
We need to prioritise creating safer, more
accepting spaces where toxic masculinity is
discouraged and where daughters are
armed with the same opportunities and
assets as sons, and where people have a
right to dignity and fulfillment at every age
and situation in life. We desperately need
balanced
laws
and
their
effective
implementation, more awareness, more
dialogue, mainstreaming traditionally taboo
subjects, penalties for deadbeat dads, and
mandatory alimony and child support
comparable with socioeconomic realities. I

believe that, in the long run, all this will lead to happier relationships across the board.
W hat now ? W here does Laaleen Sukhera go from t his point onw ards?
I feel like there?s so much creativity left to experience and professional worlds to conquer
and I find that exhilarating! My personal life may have been a roller-coaster ride of shock
and horror mingled with elation and laughter but it?s also led to so many meaningful
moments. As I recently said in my first TEDx talk, I?m increasingly comfortable in my own
skin and I?m ready to keep writing new chapters.
Anyt hing you w ish to add?
There?s no ?I?in feminism, only ?we.?I wouldn?t be here today without my tribe of strength
and solidarity, in particular my friends Rishm, Saniyya, Ayesha, and Izza who lifted me up
when I was drowning in fear and helped me float to stability. It?s really easy to be
discouraged and lose hope when you?re swimming against a tide. I honestly thought I?d
lose some of my friends and get condemned by older people when things turned toxic
for me; instead, my wealth of friendships have grown even deeper, I have a world of
female and male well-wishers, and not a single aunty or uncle has uttered a disparaging
word? only encouragement! Really gives you faith in humanity.

H.E.Kh aw la
Al Ser k al
Her Excellency, Khawla Al Serkal, is the
Director General of Sharjah Ladies Club
(SLC) and has been instrumental in the
club's successful expansion since 2004.
She graduated from the American
University of Sharjah in 2002 with a
Bachelor of Science in Business
Administration
(BSBA)
minor
in
marketing. Upon graduation, she joined
Dubai
Municipality?s
institutional
marketing
department
and
later
occupied a position as a head of
institutional marketing and exhibitions
unit. Three years later, she joined SLC in
2005 as the assistant marketing
manager, and her roles subsequently
evolved until her appointment by Her
Highness
Sheikha
Jawaher
bint
Mohammed Al Qassimi, as a Director in
2011 and a Director General in 2015. Such
designation came in recognition of HE Al
Serkal's stellar efforts throughout her
time within the club.

HE Al Serkal was awarded the Sheikha
Jawaher Medal for Contribution and
Excellence in 2014 as well as a special
recognition from Her Highness Sheikha
Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qassimi (SLC?s
Silver Jubilee Event ? in November 2007).
Among other awards, was an award from
Xponent Media FZ in 2015 as the ?Emirati
路 Board of Trustees - Sharjah Sports Women Achiever?, and another from
Family Awards, Head of Media and Executive Women as the ?Mind of a W inner?
Public Relations ? Committee (2018 - in 2016.
A family woman at heart, HE Al Serkal is
mother to four young daughters and
wife to His Excellency Tariq Al Gurg, CEO
of
Dubai
Cares.
Between
her
commitments to her work and her
family, HE Al Serkal manages to remain
involved with several professional
affiliations, as such:

Not only was HE Khawla Al Serkal engaged in
the professional field solely, in 2006 she
managed to be functional in charity based
initiatives such as Majida AlRoumi?scharity
concert as an active member in the organizing
committee, and aiding the Lebanese citizens
in Together for Lebanon.
Khawla Al Serkal ethos have always defined
her work life and have always been one of
working with women for women. Far too often
women are dissuaded from following their
dreams sometimes by wider society but more
often than not by their own limiting beliefs.
The only way to overcome those barriers is by
jumping in and doing the hard work. Khawla?s
career has shown her the amazing talent
women have within themselves and how once
they are provided a platform they can flourish.

Bukola: You were born in Sweden and moved to London at the age of 18 to obtain a
degree, what prompted your decision to move to London for higher education?
Jessica: Initially, I was only planning a gap year in London before going to university, but I
loved it so much, I decided to stay. W hile living there, I also discovered a degree in
publishing that wasn't available in Sweden, so it made sense to remain in the UK.
Bukola: W hat was your childhood like? W hat were your experiences growing up?
Jessica:I lived in the same house, in the same small town during my entire childhood.
That?s probably one of the reasons I've moved internationally, to experience new places.
During the holidays, my parents would also take us on road trips through Europe. We
would go to art galleries or museums in the morning and spend the afternoon on a
beach, reading.
Bukola: W hat prompted your chosen career path?
Jessica:I love being transported to another world through a book and wanted to create
my own worlds for other readers to delve into. Reading is entertaining, educational and
inspiring. And so is writing. As a writer, you also get to be nosy, asking people all sorts of
questions under the guise of research!
Bukola: W hat inspired you to write a dark thriller fiction?
Jessica:I wanted to create suspense while also tackling serious subjects ? the result
becomes rather dark!
Bukola: W hat are you passionate about?
Jessica:Apart from my family, I?m passionate about reading, writing, film, art and women.
Women should always support other women.
Bukola: You have lived in Sweden, UK, USA.and UAE, how has life in your home country
and other country's you have lived inspire you to write?
Jessica:To a writer, experiences are gold. They act as inspiration whether you write about
real life of use your imagination. Both my novels are set in Sweden but 'W hat Did I Do??

also takes place in Chicago, a city that
intrigues me. Living in different countries
strengthens you in many ways and
broadens your horizons.
Bukola: Your book "W hen I Wake Up" was
published in 2017 and "W hat Did I Do" was
published in 2018. Do you plan to publish a
book per year?
Jessica:I had a baby last year (my fourth) so
that might not quite work out! However, I am
writing on a new novel now for a younger
audience. And I?m also plotting my next
psychological thriller. So, watch this space ?
Bukola: How has winning the prestigious
Montegrappa first fiction competition
affected your career as a writer?
Jessica:It was basically the break that I?d
hoped to have. It led to a contract with a
literary agent and a publisher. After years of
trying to get published, it felt amazing. You
should never give up on your dreams!
Bukola: You are a writer, speaker, wife and
mother, how do you manage your time
being all of these?
Jessica:I?m not going to lie, it?s full on. But
I?ve learned to be efficient with my time. If I
have half an hour to spare, I use it wisely. To
achieve your dreams, you must actively
work towards your goals. Equally, when I?m
with my children, I try to focus on them 100%
and let go of my work until I?m able to pick it
up again.
Bukola: There are many women and girls
that would love to be a writer. As an
inspiration to many, will you be open to
mentoring?
Jessica:Of course. Supporting other women
to achieve their goals is a passion of mine. I
especially love to encourage writers to
persevere - to inspire them to follow their
dreams, I?ve set up an online video series
called "Anything is Possible.? I also have a
series of workshops and talks planned this
year, so I hope to meet more of my readers
in person, including at the Emirates
Literature Festival in Dubai.

To st art off, tell us a lit t le about yourself.
W ho is Peace Ugw uanyi?
I am a purpose-driven lady who is very
passionate about helping children have a
wholesome childhood and ensuring young
people discover themselves.
I am very intentional about life and I believe
God has given us the power to create the
life we want here on earth.
I equally believe that everyone is a leader
and has been given gifts and a purpose to
serve the world with.
W hat does your init iat ive hope to achieve
over t ime? W hat do you consider your
greatest achievement w it h regards to your
work?
I believe you are talking about Speak out
Africa.
Speak out Africa is a non- governmental
organization that is focused on preventing
Child Sexual Abuse in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The sole aim of Speak Out Africa is to have
an Africa free of child sexual abuse, an
Africa where every child can have a
protected and wholesome childhood.
Our long-term plan is to reduce the rising
statistics of child sexual abuse in the next 10
years. We are working with these pillars;
Help, Awareness, Education, and Policy.
One of our biggest achievements will be
receiving a grant from Global Change
Makers, Switzerland in December 2018 after
being chosen along with other 59 change
maker to attend a one-week life changing
summit in August of the same year. This
helped us to start up our school awareness
programs and keep other activities in our
organization going.
Now we are operating in two African
countries, Cameroon and Nigeria. And we
intend to reach more.
W hen w as it est ablished?
We started out officially in June 2018. We
are grateful for how far we have come.
W hat inspired your choice of name for t his
init iat ive?
That?s an interesting question I must say,
because that name is deeper that what

most people think.
The name ?Speak Out Africa ?came from the
idea of parents keeping silent about sex
education and body boundaries which is the
origin of everything. The idea is for parents
to speak out and teach children what they
need to know about their body, boundaries
and sexual abuse. Again, it?s equally for
children to ?speak out ?when they feel
uncomfortable or notice that someone is
going beyond the boundaries.
?Speak out Africa ?is for people to share and
know that they are not alone.

About one out of every four girls and one
out of every seven boys will be sexual
abused before their 18th birthday, and many
adults have been victims too. Child Sexual
Abuse is a global challenge and we should
all ?Speak Out?about it.
So far, w hat has your impact been like?
How many people has Speak out Africa
impacted?
So far, we have been able to reach over
6000 people with our videos, posts, articles
and social media presence since we started.
In February 2019, we started our school
awareness program and we have reached
over 450 children, teachers and parents. We
still plan to visit more schools on our list to
visit this 2019.
Have you alw ays w anted to be a Medical
doctor? If so, w hy? If not , w hat did you
w ant to be as a child?
Funny enough I?ve always wanted to be a
doctor. A cardiac surgeon to be more
specific and that was because of my
younger
brother
whom
I lost
to
complications of a congenital heart defect.
Now, I do not want to be a cardiac surgeon
anymore. (Laughs). I am more interested in
Global Health and Child Psychology which is
what I will be furthering my education in as
soon as I round off my medical degree.
Tell us a lit t le about t he organizat ion you
co-founded. How has it been like
co-founding it ?
I co-founded Beauty in You Organization
with my friends; Gloria Mensah and
Chinenye Amagwu. It?s like a small

community. Our aim is to help young
ladies discover their purpose and gifts,
work on it and serve the world with it.

why not?

We have other smaller projects we
carry out in the organization like a book
club, back to School projects,
menstrual palava where we share
personal
menstrual
stories
and
experiences.

In the next five years, we see ?Speak Out
Africa ?in not less than 5 countries in
sub- Saharan Africa. Reaching different
communities, families and children. We
hope to have policy in schools that has
Sex education and body boundary rules
compulsory.

Was t he journey all smoot h? Tell us a
lit t le about a t ime w hen you had it
rough? W hat kept you going?
The journey has not been
especially for medical school.

easy,

The most challenging time for me was
when I had to move to another country
and a new school because of a war that
broke out between Ukraine and Russia.
I transferred to about two medical
schools. That was really a tough time
for me but thank God I am finally in the
last lap.
The purpose God has placed in my
hand is what keeps me going every
day. It continuously keeps me inspires
to work every day.
As a Medical st udent , w hat is so far
your greatest achievement ?
My greatest achievement in medical
school is still a research that surrounds
my work is ?Speak Out Africa ?. I did a
scientific research on the Mental and
Physical health effects of Child Sexual
Abuse on Children. My discovery in the
research was very disturbing, I found
out that every child has over 60%
percent chance of being sexually
abused. This intensified our work in
?Speak Out Africa ?.
Would you describe your medical
career as a lifelong journey? Do you
intend to leave at some point ?
The area of medicine that I intend to
further in is something I am very
passionate about, so I don?t see myself
leaving anytime soon.
But to me, medicine is just a tool. If I
need to move into any other aspect to
fulfill the purpose God has given me,

W here do you see your init iat ive in t he
next five years?

W hat makes you volunteer so much?
And w hat makes you at tend so many
leadership programs?
I started volunteering from a very young
age and it helped me find myself. I
remember this quote by Mahatma
Gandhi which says; ?The best way to find
yourself is to lose yourself in the service
of others?. It has become a life for me, so
anytime I see a need and feel like there
is something I do about it, I don?t
hesitate.For conferences and leadership
programs the most important things in
them for me is networking, mentoring
and learning from the life of other
Change Makers all over the world.
W hat advice do you have for young
girls out t here? Anyt hing you would
like to add?
My only advice to every girl out there is
to find yourself, discover why God has
brought you are here, use those gifts
you find in yourself to serve your
community. Life will not make sense to
you until you find something bigger than
you to live for.
It?s not so complex, start somewhere
look for how to serve that gift you have,
volunteer, look for a problem around
you that you desire to solve. You may
not understand everything at first, but
the path will get clearer as go.
Jalaluddin Rumi said, ?Everyone has
been made for some particular work
and the desire for that work has been
put in every heart ?.

Sana Noreen from Pakistan works as a
youth activist and social activist with
many national and international
organisations. She is a finalist for the
young achiever award by Divas
international women awards 2019. Sana
wanted to share her experience as
intern at Ananke Magazine to mark
International Women?s Day.
I was an intern at Ananke in the 2018
cohort. During this three month program
Ananke gave us brilliant experience in
the field of communications, publishing,
digital journalism and advocacy. Ananke
prepares us for the future of work.
During my tenure as intern, I learned
how to run a social media campaign and
how to give voice by writing an article.
It is a great platform, I was mentored by
women from the UAE and Australia.
Through Ananke I had the opportunity to
work with these trailblazers who
dedicate their time selflessly to
empower others. Under the guidance of
the team at Ananke, I had the
opportunity to gain understanding and
appreciate effective trans national
working relations. It was an honour to
work with like minded people. Team
Ananke continues to support my work
and are always there to assist with my
learning. I wish all the best to the current
and future interns and hope their
experience will be as positive as my
own.

WRITTENBY
Can you tell us a lit t le about yourself?
My name is Jayne Kumwembe Gogodus. I
am a broadcast journalist with over 20
years?experience. I am currently working as
Chief Editor at Malawi Broadcasting
Corporation ?MBC. I am also an advocate
for the girl child and women issues. I hold a
Diploma in Journalism with Distinction from
Africa Literature Centre, Zambia and a BSC
Honors
in
Sociology
and
Gender
Development Studies from the Women?s
University in Africa based in Harare,
Zimbabwe.
W hat are your
achievement s?

greatest

professional

Covering high profiled events like the
Commonwealth Heads of State and
Government Meetings- CHOGM, United
Nations General Assembly-UNGA, African
Union Summits, UN AIDS, Economic
Commission for Africa, NEPAD as well as
other summits which has seen me travel to
over 40 countries. I have met and
interviewed high profile people, including
four former Malawian Presidents, England?s
former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Nelson
Mandela, Graca Machel and Oliver
Mtukudzi. Introducing, presenting and
producing for television the high profiled
TVM Exclusive which has since evolved to
MBC Exclusive after being trained by BBC?s
Hard Talk producers at a training conducted
at Radio Netherlands at Hilversum,
Netherlands. Other programmes which I
also introduced on the channel include
Focus on the Nation (MBC Radio One) and

PRECIOUSMTUWA

Insight (Television). I have changed the format
of news presentation and the signature tune
for the news bulletin on MBC Radio One
which is still in use to date. Finally, being
seconded to the Foreign Service and working
as Malawi?s First Secretary of Press and
Protocol at Malawi?s High Commission in
London, UK
How has been t he journey been like in your
line of work?
My journey has been a great one despite
challenges here and there. I have grown and
evolved as a journalist, starting off as a cub
reporter/ producer and rising through the
ranks. I have produced and presented
programmes, anchored news both on radio
and television and reported on an array of
issues within and outside the country. This
has in turn rendered me into a household

name, an achievement that I do not take for
granted.
W hat is t he secret to your success?
Hard work!
W hat are some of t he challenges t hat you
face at work?
As a female, I have had to prove myself
repeatedly because this field is male
dominated. Patriarchal tendencies of society
have not spared the media and often as a
woman I have found myself being sidelined for
less experienced male colleagues whenever
promotions have been in the offing.
W hat do you t hink are t he best skills t hat you
bring at your job?
Hard work, professionalism, creativity and
tenacity.

Jane Egerton-Idehen (born on January 9,
1977) is a Nigerian Telecommunications
Executive, an Electronic Engineer by
profession, who is passionate about
positively influencing her community.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Jane was born in Lagos Island, Lagos,
from Nigerian origin. She is married to
Egerton-Idehen
with
two
beautiful
children. Her recreational
interests
include; Cycling, golfing, dancing (salsa)
and writing.
EDUCATION
Jane graduated with a degree in
Electronic Engineering from the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka. Furthering her
education, she holds an MBA from
Warwick Business School and Executive
Education degree from Harvard Business
School, U.S.
PASSION
Jane has always been passionate about
being an agent of social change for her
community. She is particularly passionate
about supporting students, as well as
mentoring and coaching career women. In
April 2017, she established an Initiative
called
"Women
and
Career"
(www.womenncareer.org); a nonprofit
organization targeted towards supporting
women who wish to grow their career
while also encouraging young girls to
have one. This platform achieves this
through mentorship sessions, workshops,
and use of online media tools in order to
share career advice, practical tips, tools
and resources to guide women on their
career journey. In less than two years of
establishment, this initiative has recorded
a major achievement by starting up a
mentorship program with students at the
University of Mines and Technology,
Takwa, Ghana. Jane envisions seeing her
initiative in the next five years as one
making global impact by contributing to
women empowerment.
CAREEER
Jane's career in telecommunication
industry commenced over 15years ago.
Her vast experience spans over three

countries, having worked as part of the
Ericsson Ghana and Liberia executive
team where she managed the account
teams for Ericsson for both countries
and being presently the country
manager for Nigeria and Regional sales
manager West Africa for the satellite
company; Avanti Communication ltd.
W hen asked about her career journey,
Jane had this to say, "The journey has
not been smooth, we have had highs
and lows. I have struggled in phases
where my career had slowed down so I
could settle into my motherhood role. I
have had cases where people did not
believe in my ability and I have had
phases where career decisions I had
taken had backfired. But the important
thing is to learn from all this and keep
moving forward".
SUMMARY
Jane decides to share a few words with
the girls out there with a vision of
foraying into STEM-related fields when
she said, "I would say nothing fully
prepared you for what life might throw
at you. It is however important that you
be able to adapt, put in the hard work,
dream and dream big, seek out mentors
to learn from, keep friends that support
and share the same value with you, be
open to learn new experiences and
seek to always learn. Definitely, at the
foundation of this is faith in God, and the
understanding that everyone was
created with a purpose here on Earth".

In October 2015, l began an exciting
journey as a UN Women Global
Champion
for
women
economic
empowerment at Empower Women. I
was placed in a team of 71 other
amazing men and women from different
Countries, with a core mission of
creating a global change for women and
girls globally, read as SDG5. It is in this
forum that I got the opportunity to
interact with amazing men and women
who are not only fellow Empower
Women champions but have become
great friends and mentors. They
continuously inspire me with their work
and passion for creating a better world
for women.
That is how I met the amazing Sabin
Muzaffar (I mean met virtually). She had
just launched an incredible digital
magazine, Ananke, with a vision to
celebrate visionary women and to
empower and inspire women. The
Ananke initiative seemed powerful from
the beginning. I strongly believe that
writing is an effective tool to inspire and
empower.
Through
writing,
you
disseminate
important
information,
lessons and ideas. The information goes
far and wide to impact large masses,
especially using the digital platform.
Writing can address various problems
and suggest solutions. I therefore
applaud Ananke magazine for its
superior role in reporting stories, articles
and podcasts on various aspects of
topics affecting women. Ananke gives
its content a global outlook by covering
a wide range of stories and interviews

from all continents. Through Ananke, I have listened to amazing interviews of women I
would not have an opportunity to meet. I have read about community heroes and local
leaders empowering women, whom I would never have heard about. Ananke has
highlighted neglected topics on violence against women, from elderly abuse to acid
attacks and honor killings. Ananke is bold enough to spare nothing. Everything must be
told. Let the world know and act.
I am thankful to Ananke for giving me the opportunity to contribute a few articles to the
Magazine as an external contributor since its inception. Following my work as a lawyer in
the human rights field, I certainly have so much to share on the rights of women, and
Ananke just came at the right time. On 8 thMarch 2018, I was extremely humbled to
appear on Ananke?s list of 100 Global Trailblazers in women empowerment. It was a big
honour indeed. Ananke is also on a quest to equip young women with digital skills and
mentorship and has benefited girls from around the world through its Internship
program. I am excited to be selected as a mentor for the next round of Ananke interns. I
certainly look forward to continue collaborating with Ananke in more ways with the aim
of creating a better impact in the field of women empowerment. My vision for Ananke is
to see the magazine grow to transform into a larger global Organisational network with
the same mission and the ability to engage directly with the women and girls facing such
violations.
I celebrate Sabin for creating this incredible initiative to empower and transform lives.
I celebrate the entire Ananke team, collaborators, partners, mentors and interns for your
role in supporting this initiative.
I celebrate all amazing women whose brave stories highlighted by Ananke continue to
inspire and empower.
And to our dear readers and social media followers, Thank you for your time and
commitment in keeping the Ananke dream alive.
I celebrate you all.
Happy International Women?s Day

Goi ng beyond
th e Gender
Rul e Debate
Garnet t Achieng Oballa on
w hy t he gender bill discussion
in Kenya needs to go beyond
t he ? Gender Rule debate.
In 2018, the Kenyan parliament went into a
debate on the Gender Bill. See, Kenya?s
parliament
is currently unconstitutional.
According to the 2010 constitution, elective or
appointive bodies should be made up of not
more than ? members of the same gender.
W hen this quota is not met, the Supreme Court
is supposed to dissolve the parliament and call
for an election re-run. Currently, Kenya?s
representation of women in parliament stands
at 20.7%, which is way lower than the
constitutionally mandated 33%. It does not
make it any better that Kenya has the lowest
representation of women in parliament in the
East African region.
W hile the implementation of the Gender Bill
has continuously failed, I believe that there is
more to increasing the number of Kenyan

women in active politics than putting a numerical
quota in place. This is because while the quota
seeks to increase the number of women in
decision making positions, it does not solve the
challenges that keep them from attaining or vying
for those positions in the first place.
According to a 2017 report by the Rift Valley
Institute in Kenya, women vying for political
positions in Kenya face barriers such as political
violence, patriarchal structures in political parties,
entrenched traditional gender roles and lack of
finances. And while political violence and lack of
finances is not exclusive to women, these factors
are extensively used as tools to control and
subdue them from taking on political positions.
The report goes on to further state that once
women get into political positions, they still have

trouble influencing decisions made
because of reasons such as low
budgetary allocations, negative media
representation, and the perception
that they only made it to those
positions because of quotas.
It is also not shocking that culture is a
huge contributor to the low number of
Kenyan women in active politics. This
is because culture and society dictate
that women play to traditional gender
roles which state that they should stay
at home and be motherly figures. And
while women stay at home, they are
often unable to attend late night
political meetings, a space where key
constituents gather and a great deal of
information sharing
takes place
(Bokua,2017). In a space where visibility
feeds into one?s electability, these
expectations of what women ought or
ought not to do makes them lose out
on votes.
Culture also extends its hand to dictate
how women in politics should present
themselves. This is why a lot of women
vying for positions play into their
beauty and sexuality to attract voters.
It also shuns women who do not
conform to conventional beauty
standards. One Samantha Maina, who
was vying for the Kileleshwa MCA
position, had comments such as
?unprofessional? and ?un-politician like?
thrown at her natural hair. It is also not
shocking that people take advantage
of the conservatism expected of
women and use it against them. A
female aspirant in the primaries for the
2017 general electionstold Reuters
that an opponent hired goons to litter
the polling station with condoms that
had her name on them. This is
because
painting
women
as
promiscuous
make
them
lose
conservative voters?support.
These instances are just examples of
why there is work to be done to make
politics a safer space for Kenyan
women beyond implementing the

Gender Bill. As a country, Kenya needs to have
a cultural shift on expectations of women. It is
time for us to see women as full human
beings and stop pegging our expectations on
them. We also need to shun violence against
women. Instead of asking female politicians to
hire bodyguards, we should address the
problem by implementing the laws we have
that are supposed to protect women,.
Finally, for there to be support for the quota,
there needs to be education around the need
for the gender quotas. The government?s
complacency when it comes to implementing
the Gender Bill can mostly be attributed to
Kenyans? negative perception of quotas and
affirmative
action.
Women
who
are
beneficiaries of quotas and nominations are
viewed as less capable than women who are
elected into positions. This has led to the rise
of the term ?flower girls,?a term that reduces
female politicians to decorative pieces and
infers that they only have their physical
attributes to bring to the table. This perception
is even held by male politicians who in
2016boycotted a voting session for the
Gender Bill, citing it as an affront to
democracy to give women ?free seats?.
?This House is already bloated. This is another
way of giving people?s girlfriends free tickets.
Women should fight on an equal footing with
men,? said
John
Karanja, the
then
representative of Kasarani constituency.
The expectation is that Kenyan women should
fight for legislative seats on equal footing with
men, yet t here is no equal foot ing. As a
result, women also shun the quota because of
the stigma that comes with benefitting from it.
There needs to be massive sensitization on
the need and the benefits of the quota
because until this happens, the Gender Bill
discussion will not bear fruit.
Garnett is a creative writer, researcher, and
storyteller. She is passionate about using
storytelling to highlight struggles of African
women and her mission is to produce literary
works that uplift and empower African women.
She is a former Ananke Mag intern, and
currently sits on the Editorial Board at Women?s
Media Center- The F-Bomb, an intersectional
teen feminist media platform created by and for
socially conscious youth.

Garnet t Achieng Oballa

Th i nk Eq ual ,
Bal ance f or Better!
Melanie Bublyk celebrates Women?s Day 2019 by
delving into the essence of empowerment.
Empowerment is the process
of gaining confidence and
power to achieve control over
one?s life and to claim one?s
rights.
Issues
that
are
important to one?s own life can
be addressed by and acted
upon through empowerment.
Women who are marginalised
from decision making can
become part of it through
empowerment. Raising the
status of women through
education,
awareness,
advocacy
is
central
to
empowerment.
Women?s
rights
and
development
cannot be achieved without
empowerment
and
the
absence
of
women?s
empowerment
leads
to
alienation. Empowerment is
significant to development
because without empowerment
the sustainable development of a
country can be compromised.
Women are encouraged to realise
their value whilst transforming
their
families,
communities,
economies and the environment
through
the
process
of
empowerment.
The ways in which empowerment
is achieved
can
be
quite
contrasting
among
different
people, however raising the social,
economic, legal and political
status of women and girls lies at
the heart of empowerment. Erin
Murphy-Graham articulates in her
book Opening Minds, Improving
Lives: Education and Women?s
Empowerment in Hondurasthat
?education does not automatically
result in women?s empowerment
because of the social and

economic context in which women live can pose
overwhelming constraints on their choices?. This is
true for Australian women, significant gains have
been made in parity of educational attainment and
Australia consistently ranks number one for
educational parity, but women endure an
accumulation of poverty over the life course. UN
Womenarticulate
that
women
remain
disproportionately
affected
by
poverty,
discrimination and exploitation and that sex
discrimination through gendered norms can
profoundly impact on women?s full participation in
social and economic policies. The 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Developmentincludes gender
equality as one of the global goals.
The 2019 International Women?s Day theme is
# BalanceForBetterand UN Women?s 2019 theme
is Think equal, build smart, innovate for change.
W hat this means is to focus on ways in which
social protection systems, public services and
sustainable infrastructure can be advanced
through innovation to improve gender equality

and women?s rights. It also requires effort to
ensure that there is balance between men
and women in governance, leadership, the
media and the economy. To achieve this and
for women to truly feel empowered will take
courage to speak out about the oppressive
forces that are hindering women?s economic
and social well-being. It is to advocate for
respectful relationships and to value women?s
worth in society. To recognise their
contributions and their unpaid care labour
that contributes to their poverty. The
well-being of a society is compromised when
gender equality is not achieved or sustained,
it hinders poverty reduction and diminishes
the overall health of women.
There have been considerable gains for
women in the context of equality before the
law, however women?s social and economic
equality
is
abated.
Goldblatt
and
Fredmanargue that in the context of women,
understandings of making the economy work
for women requires elaborating on the
principle of substantive equality along four
dimensions:
t he redist ribut ive dimension: which aims to
redress women?s specifically gendered
disadvantage
t he recognit ion dimension: which aims to
address stigma, prejudice, humiliation and
violence
t he t ransformat ive dimension:which aims to
reconstruct basic institutional features that
function as obstacles to women
t he part icipat ive dimension:which aims to
enhance women?s voice and social inclusion
They argue that substantive equality should
be unequivocal in International Human Rights
Law and that policies based on substantive
equality would help address gendered
inequality. As we mark another International
Women?s Day and celebrate achievements,
milestones and women working together for
women, we must too reflect on the realities
of gender-based poverty and the women
who bear the burden of its effects.

Two and a half years have been passed since I
interned at Ananke mag and played my part in
celebrating visionary women across the globe.
I was given this tremendous opportunity by
Women Engineers Pakistan. During my
internship I met women from Africa and got to
know their challenges and strategies to
overcome them. I made good friends with
them that our communication persists. Before
the internship, I was a believer of women
empowerment. Ananke gave me a platform to
eradicate women?s suppression and polished
and strengthened my beliefs.
It has been eight months since I graduated as
an electrical engineer. Currently, I am working
in a private company as a Power Systems
Engineer. I was recently awarded with a Gold
Medal by the President of Pakistan for securing
first position in my Bachelors. The feeling of
accomplishment and satisfaction that overtook
me can not be put into words. Studying for a
degree, that is considered to be male
centered, and in a male dominated institute,

topping and winning the medal was a
completely different feeling. Not that I look down
on the male colleagues; some of them had
better skills than me, but my hard work paid off
in a way I couldn?t imagine.
In the course of four years, I have seen a
remarkable rise in the movement for women?s
empowerment in various fields in my society. All
through technology! Four years ago, I just
encountered women who wrote articles online
or did small scale businesses, which were very
few. But now, oh that vigorous change! I can see
bloggers on social media, like Facebook and
Instagram, boasting about their own skills and
expertise. From solo travelling to tech
entrepreneurship,
from
photography
to
environmental cleansing, from fashion industry
to commute services, women and girls are
spread over. Women led startups are flourishing,
and the fact cannot be denied that women will
continue to leave the world in awe. They are
helping one another through social media
platforms; there are several women only groups.
For instance, ?Desi Wedding Diaries?is a group on
Facebook that connects the women in Pakistan
so that they can seek help and ideas for their
wedding planning from scratch. A group named
?W ings to Women? helps unemployed women
seek jobs; some of the opportunities even
include work from home. And the list goes on.
These are the superwomen who are going to
great lengths in encouraging and lifting others.
I am not saying that women have grown stronger
in this era. Women were stronger before, they are
now, and they will remain strong. It?s just the
mediums which have showcased their strength
so that many others can benefit. I still remember
so many of my friends? mothers involved in
businesses and corporate sector, my teachers
and their tremendous intuitive and novel ideas.
However, there was limited to negligible means
they could tell the world of their capabilities.
I believe and hope that this impeccable pace
doesn?t slow down, and women continue to
showcase their talents, help each other, make
the best use of technology and refrain from
negativity.
W ith
the
successes
and
achievements, they should embrace their
femininity and inspire the same genders to grow
inside out. W ith a strong dose of respect for all
the people in the society, they can put an
optimistic image out in the world and inspire
others to live like visionary women!

Di
Divversi
ersiffyi
ying
ng th
thee Legal
Legal Sector
Sector
iinn Pak
Pakiistan
stan
A nank e?s Dari a Leontev a i nterv i ew ed M rs. Ni da Usman Ch audh ary and M r. Hassan
Ni azi f rom th e Gender Eq ual i ty and Di v ersi ty Commi ttee of Th e Lah ore Hi gh Court
Bar A ssoci ati on about th e i mportance of gender eq ual i ty. Gender eq ual i ty i s
j usti f i ed, because th e si tuati on rel ated to th e recogni ti on of w omen's ri gh ts i s sti l l
rel ev ant and w omen remai n a v ul nerabl e group. Th ere i s th e M i ni mum Set of
Gender I ndi cators th at w as agreed upon by th e Uni ted Nati ons. Th e M i ni mum Set
of Gender I ndi cators i s to be used across countri es and regi ons, f or th e nati onal
producti on and i nternati onal compi l ati on of gender stati sti cs. A ccordi ng to th i s
prov i si on, gender stati sti cs are based on th e f ol l ow i ng i ndi cators: Economi c
structures and access to resources, Educati on, Heal th and rel ated serv i ces, Publ i c
l i f e and deci si on-mak i ng, and th e h uman ri gh ts of w omen and ch i l d. Th i s i nterv i ew
h as f ocus on th e l egal aspect of gender eq ual i ty and th e gender i ndi cators rel ated to
publ i c l i f e and deci si on-mak i ng and w omen?s h uman ri gh ts.
Nida Usman Chaudharyis Chairperson of the Gender Equality and Diversity Committee,
Founder of Lahore Education and Research Network (LEARN) which aims to bridge the
gaps between education and practice through research and capacity building
workshops and the founder of the 'Women in Law' initiative in Pakistan. Nida holds LL.B.
(Hons) and LL.M. in Law & Development from University of London.
Mr. Hassan Abdullah Niazi is a Co-Chairperson of the Gender Equality and Diversity
Committee. Hassan Niazi is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan with 5 years of
litigation experience.He completed his LL.M. from New York University, where he was a
Hauser Global Scholar. He has an LL.B. (Hons.) degree from University College Lahore,
where he held the highest aggregate grade in the University of London?s International
Program globally in 2012.

1. Daria: Nida Usman and Mr. Hassan Niazi, we w ant to express our grat it ude for
t aking t he t ime to be interviewed by Ananke magazine. Can you bot h explain t he main
goals of t he Gender Equalit y and Diversit y Commit tee est ablishment ?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi:The Lahore High Court Bar Association 2018-19
appointed the Committee on ?Gender Equality and Diversity? with the following
objectives:
a. To promote full and equal participation of all members of the profession without any
prejudice, bias, discrimination or difference for advancement of legal profession in
Pakistan in line with global trends,
b. To assist the Bar on policy and strategic reform frameworks that encourage greater
integration of all members for full participation in the profession.
c. To conduct educational seminars and workshops for capacity building of lawyers, staff
and other personnel in matters related to or associated with ensuring equality of
treatment and opportunities as well as inclusivity and diversity of all members pursuant
to their fundamental rights in the Constitution and laws of Pakistan.
2. Daria: Internat ional Women?s Day 2019 is approaching, and t he UN Women t heme is
"Think equal, build smart , innovate for change". I t hink t his t heme sounds very
inspirat ional and t hese are t he t hree basic element s of our fut ure. W hat do you t hink
about it ?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: A 21stcentury workplace and society cannot operate
with the tools and policies of the 20th century. The world has come a long way and with
advancements in technology and communication, new opportunities and new methods
of engagement have evolved. These have been instrumental in giving voice, space and
opportunities of growth to an entire segment of society that was previously excluded or
to whom the same were inaccessible. In this way, technology is a great equalizer so the
UN Women theme ?think equal, build smart and innovate for change? is perfectly in line
with modern dynamics and is very empowering in my view.

TM UC Law Sch ool St u den t s

3. Daria: From your point of view, how do we make t he legal profession more
inclusive? Can you explain t he current sit uat ion regarding gender equalit y in t he legal
profession in Pakist an?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: Pakistan is the second worst country in the world in
terms of gender parity ranking at 148 out of 149 countries, second only to Yemen, as per
the ?Global Gender Gap Index Report 2018? by the World Economic Forum (W EF).
According to the most recent ?Punjab Gender Parity Report 2018?compiled by Punjab
Commission on Status of Women (PCSW ), the situation is similarly very dismal.
Specifically, in context of the legal profession, the report found that out of 1771 judges in
Punjab only 15% were women. Out of 907 prosecutors in Punjab, only 14% were women.
Only 2.7% of the women make up the women in police while only 11% of the 89,143
registered members of the Punjab Bar Council were female lawyers. Out of these
women in law, only a very negligible number reach senior managerial positions within
law firms and other offices. Till date, Pakistan has not had a woman as a Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court and only very recently, in 2018 did Mrs. Justice Tahira Safdar become
the first female Chief of a High Court in the country. Currently, in Lahore, out of 48 judges
of the Lahore High Court, only 2 are women. This suggests that women are
underrepresented in the judiciary and law enforcement agencies as well as in important
policy level and senior managerial level positions such as commissions or committees
established under various laws to investigate or propose recommendations for certain
matters relevant to legal profession and its advancement, for instance, the committee
formed by former CJP Saqib Nisar to reform the legal education in Pakistan featured no
female. The legal profession in Pakistan therefore, faces a tremendous challenge in
terms of ensuring access and space for women and other marginalized groups.

diverse?
Regarding making the legal profession more
inclusive, it is imperative that there is
recognition that disparity even exists. In this
regard, the work done by Lahore Education
and Research Network?s (LEARN) Women in
Law
Initiative
Pakistan
has
been
instrumental. They first highlighted this issue
in 2016 through their women in law dialogue
series which continues to
highlight
challenges facing female lawyers and their
opportunities till date. They have also played
a strong role in uniting female lawyers
towards this cause across Pakistan and have
successfully networked them with each
other through various endeavors and
initiatives. It is important for this momentum
to continue and to be supported to create
the awareness of why a more inclusive and
diverse legal profession in Pakistan will
promote access to justice for all. In addition
to awareness and networking, it is important
that at a policy level, women are represented
and are given a voice and space to
contribute towards the advancement of legal
profession. Not only should women be
encouraged to participate in all facets of the
profession and its key official posts, but there
is a need to review the system of
appointments and elections overall to see
whether the process discriminates against
their advancement to senior positions or
appointments say for judiciary at any
structural or institutional level; and if so, it
should be made more transparent and more
conducive to cater to diversity and
representation of its marginalized classes.
Then off course there is that issue of
workplace harassment (both sexist and
sexual) and at times hostile environment that
caters to an exclusive men?s club which
makes access to courts and legal profession
difficult. These are challenges that will be
addressed mainly through implementation of
the Workplace Harassment Act 2010 and
through gender sensitivity trainings and
workshops for lawyers, judges and staff.
4. Daria: There were Lahore Bar Elect ions
recent ly, w hat can you say about a new ly
formed cabinet ? Has it become more

Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: Lahore
Bar operates at the district level and we
also have the Lahore High Court Bar
Association (LHCBA) (under which we
are a committee) elections coming up on
Feb 23rd,2019. At the district level, only 1
female candidate participated and she
lost. For the upcoming LHCBA elections,
2 female candidates have filed
nominations, one for post of ?vice
president? and the other as ?finance
secretary? of the association. We hope
they emerge as winners however,
currently, it cannot be said that the bar
associations or the bar councils at
Punjab or even at Pakistan level are
representative of the diversity within the
profession, let alone gender equality.
5. Daria: As a woman in t he legal
profession, in your recent interview you
said t hat our gender should not t ake
precedence over our competence and
skills. W hat kind of personal and
professional skills do women need to
become a successful law yer?
Nida:As I said in that interview, the skills
ought not to be gendered so in order to
be a successful lawyer, the skills one
needs are the same for any man or
woman pursuing this field however, what
women in law may need in addition to
the standard skill set (commitment, good
communication and analytical skills,
ability to think on feet, confidence) is the
belief in themselves,that they can go to
the
court
and
argue
a
case.
?Discouragement?starts within the home
and continues to be handed down by
professors and then later by colleagues
and senior staff, it is the single biggest
obstruction in the way of women from
exploring litigation as a career option.
6. Daria: In keeping w it h t he t heme of
t his year?s Women?s Day, w hat needs to
be done to incorporate innovat ive
policies w it h regards to gender and
especially care work (w hich should be
a
responsibilit y
shared
by
all

st akeholders) in order to build a smart
societ y?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: We are big
advocates of ?flexible work options?because a
smart, innovative and inclusive society is one
where physical space is not a limiting factor.
We consider use of ICT, E-Courts and online
filing portals to be extremely useful in terms of
capitalizing on time and space which can be
utilized to a great deal to cut down on working
hours for practitioners. In addition to that, our
maternity leave laws need to be amended to
ensure there is no discrimination against an
expectant mother by reason of her maternity
along with a potent implementation and
redressal mechanism that enables her to
pursue her claim if need be.
Not only do we need to upgrade the maternity
leave laws, we need to also work on
developing paternity leave rules for public and
private employees and workers so that there is
at least equity if not equality. This would enable
fathers to play a more potent role towards
domestic
responsibilities
and
will
consequently, remove the existing bias towards
hiring women in workforce by employers.
Currently, the law in Punjab requires employers
to provide for day-care if they hire 25 or more
?women?in their establishment. We believe that
provision of day-care must not be linked to
number of ?women? but on the number of
?employees? (which is a gender-neutral term)
working in an organisation so that a degree of
operative equality can be achieved between
men and women workers and so that a more
enabling environment at workplaces can be
harnessed by providing the fathers the option,
opportunity and space to share in the care of
their children at work if the need be. The
implementation of these policies will make way
for a more inclusive society and not just a more
inclusive legal profession.
7.
Daria:
Cont inuing
discussion
of
Internat ional Women's Day, w hich act ivit ies
are usually t aking place in Pakist an on IW D?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: March 8 is
celebrated with much zeal and fervor and it is
the one day where we see government and its
ministers
making
several
commitments

towards advancement of women, their rights and their health and well-being. A lot of
projects are often inaugurated, ribbons are cut and long speeches often made. The
media also contributes in creating an awareness of various issues. TV programmes and
talk shows cover various topics related to women however, one of the most impactful
activities that is set to take place this year is the celebrated ?Aurat March? being
organized by ?Hum Aurtain?? a collective of feminists and women human rights workers,
activists, institutions and organizations who come together to not just reclaim the public
space, but also to reclaim autonomy over their bodies, their rights, their decisions and to
highlight any other cause that needs attention. In this way, women beat taboos,
challenge patriarchy, toxic masculinity and even cultural norms rooted in religious cover
and handed down over centuries to entrench and reinforce traditional gender roles.
8. Daria: W hy is it import ant to develop equalit y and diversit y in a global context ?
W hat act ivit ies does your Commit tee do in t his case?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: By ensuring equality and diversity one is not merely
ticking checkboxes to advance in international rankings. No! that isn?t the objective. The
purpose is more personal, and deeper and the idea is to ensure that a cross section of
the society finds itself represented and included so that their fundamental rights can be
secured. W hen a person from a marginalized class reaches the corridors of influence,
power and position, he or she is able to make a good case for the people they
represent. Inclusion therefore, brings diverse opinions, experiences and needs to the
table which a non-inclusive forum/ society is very likely to overlook or miss. Resultantly,
the laws or policies they would enact would similarly lack suitability and relevance to
those diverse group of people whose interests and needs have not had the chance to
be adequately represented. This is why it is crucially important to develop a diverse and
inclusive society and a diverse and inclusive legal profession.
For the first time in history of LHCBA our committee was established this cabinet year
(2018-19). We commenced our activities with a conversation on ?Equality of Access?to
create a groundwork awareness amongst the lawyers who even questioned the need
and purpose of setting up this committee. Clearly, there was much too speculation
about the concepts that we were trying to introduce but the dialogue we initiated did
have its positive impact in terms of getting the conversation started within the corridors
of the bar association and the Lahore High Court. This was because we incorporated a

Pan el on Equ alit y of
Access

segment on ?gender sensitivity training? and were supported in this endeavor by two
leading and very learned and respected judges a. learned additional sessions Judge Mr.
Amir Munir and b. Mrs. Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Judge Lahore High Court.
From the conversation, we moved on to our research survey that we conducted in
association with Lahore Education and Research Network (LEARN) on ?Equality is a
State of Mind: Addressing Mental Blocks? with law students. The purpose of the survey
was to understand the perceptions and apprehensions of the law students, due to enter
the legal profession as young associates. During that research, we found that one of the
bigger challenges for law students in general and female law students in particular was
lack of access to any acclimatization or training programmes that gave them a chance
to independently get an insight and exposure to legal practice. Young associates were
expected to learn on the job by shadowing their senior counsels and in this way,
inevitably, a lot of female students were often left behind. We therefore, launched the
first ?professional orientation program?along with LEARN, that ran from September to
December 2018 to acclimatize the students with legal process, environment and
personnel. We had a cohort of ten students for our first batch, seven of whom were
female law students from different law schools from across Lahore. Their feedback was
very positive with 90% of them reporting that they feel much more confident in
considering litigation after this program while one of the female candidates would even
consider joining the judiciary.
The committee, if reconstituted for the year 2019-20 post elections on 23rd, plans to
undertake a more detailed review of laws, rules and issues that need its attention. It will
support plaintiffs in their motions towards a more inclusive society. We will continue to
do our part, research and input in whatever way we can and will continue to run our
existing orientation program as well to further develop capacity. We also look forward to
liaison with law firms, bar councils, and other organisations to work on equality, access,
inclusion and diversity because we believe that an equal and diverse legal profession is
a cornerstone for an equal and inclusive society. It is through this profession and
platform that fundamental rights are sought and ensured so it is this profession that
needs to be an equalizing force before anything else.
9. Daria: W hat is t he role of law yers to promote access to just ice for all people
regardless of t heir gender, age or race?

Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: All lawyers must understand that access is essentially
about giving space to the people who approach the corridors of justice, be it the
victims, the accused, the lawyers, the judges etc. It is about creating an environment
that is professional and mindful of the dignity and rights of all present so that they are
enabled to speak up and seek justice without any fear or intimidation and abuse. It
requires the lawyers to be sensitized to inherent misogyny and bias which they may
themselves be unaware of. It is where legal ethics come in and these must be
implemented in letter and spirit so that a conducive environment that is respectful of
needs of all stakeholders, including the differently-abled is created and so that no
woman is asked any derogatory questions on her attire or character whilst seeking
justice for alleged rape for instance. This would require a lot of training and the recently
established Gender Based Violence (GBV) Court in Lahore ? which is Asia?s first is a
great example. The SoPs of the GBV Court, together with training of the judge and
public prosecutors has been designed to inculcate dignity in accessing justice and all
steps to facilitate the victim/ survivor have been introduced to make them feel
comfortable. Similar investment and training are required to be delivered on a broader
scale to the legal community and it would be great if it can be made part of their
process to apply for license to practice law. The license should in turn be renewable
every 3 - 5 years as opposed to for life as it is now and be contingent upon the lawyer
successfully completing a certain number of trainings, including on gender sensitivity,
access and inclusion.
10. Daria: The equalit y and diversit y in a just ice system. How to achieve t his goal?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: Through amending discriminatory laws, introducing
quotas as a corrective measure for some time to appoint women on senior and policy
level positions, investment in infrastructure and training to make the building and the
environment more conducive and user-friendly, to establish the harassment
committee in bar associations and councils as required under 2010 Act and through
training and investment in human capital.

Equ alit y of access session
11. Daria: W hat is your vision of gender friendly environment ?
Nida Usman and Hassan Niazi: A gender friendly environment is one where the different
needs of all genders are given equal value and space legislatively, structurally, and
linguistically. It is an environment that allows everyone to pursue their life and their rights
with dignity without fear, incapacitation, dependence or intimidation.

I nterpreti ng
Women?s
Empow erment
M aryam Taf resh i i nv esti gates th e i nterpl ay
of w omen?s empow erment w i th th ei r mental
and ph ysi cal h eal th , sati sf acti on i n l i f e, and
q ual i ty of l i f e.
The five global issues of concern to International Psychologists (IP) are the study of
disempowered groups, global mental and physical health, the environment, terrorism,
and the poor (Stevens & Wedding, 2004). As an International Psychology candidate, I
have an interest in empowerment and global mental and physical health. This interest
has motivated me to search for the understanding of the perspectives of women on how
attitudes and policies affect their empowerment at multiple levels (individual, family,
society, and larger context of the country). Furthermore, I am interested to discover the
interplay of women?s empowerment with their mental and physical health, satisfaction in
life, and quality of life. International Psychology (Stevens & Wedding, 2004; Stevens,
2007) and two empowerment theories (Malhotra & Schuler, 2005; Zimmerman, 2000)
suggest that this topic is a complex phenomenon and can only be understood and
supported when a multi-dimensional, multi-determined, and multidisciplinary lens is
used combined with a top-down, bottom-up, and middle out approach.
As Shulman and Watkins (2012) stated, in order to empower vulnerable groups, we need
to respect and hear their voices, needs, and solutions to their needs. Therefore, in order
to support women?s empowerment, it is imperative to understand the perspectives of

each woman about this definition
and the factors they suggest to
influence
their
empowerment.
Additionally, women need to be
included and their diverse views
respected on finding best solutions
in support of their empowerment.
W hat empowerment means to one
woman can be different to another
woman. The goals, values, needs,
life conditions, and the context that
women live in could be different
from one another. As a result, the
factors that assumed to empower
one woman could be a source of
distress for another. For example,
often in research, we read that
education
and
financial
independence are two major factors
in women?s empowerment. However,
for a highly educated woman, who
has recently given birth to a child,
staying at home and taking care of
her child for few years might be a
major value that precedes her wish
to grow professionally. Another
woman might define empowerment
in staying at home and taking care of
her children, making sure the family
has healthy homemade food,
nourishing
family
and
social
connections, have energy to bring
peace for her family, and take care of
herself (rest, exercise, attend to her
health and other meaningful dreams
and hobbies). Therefore, she might
not see fit to add a profession into
her already overwhelming, culturally
expected multitasking roles. The
extra pressure could compromise
her health, patience, and the quality
of life she brings for herself and her
family. Some women might thrive in
traditional
multitasking
while
pursuing a profession on top of it.
This can be due to many factors in
any combination, such as having a
high energy level, priority of values
and goals, role models, individual
and family needs, how strongly they
identify with the role they play; the

stage in life; having special financial,
professional, and educational opportunities;
family and/ or partner support; and how laws,
polices, and sociocultural attitudes support
them. Confidence, self-belief, and agreeing to or
peacefully disregarding with social expectations,
are other factors that motivate women to follow
their dreams and prioritize them; weather it is
the decision and desire to stay at home or to go
to work or switch as needed.
Financial independence and decision-making
power are two major factors of women?s
empowerment that are repeatedly noted in
research (Gholipour et al., 2010; Vakili et al., 2010;
W HO, 2014). Therefore, if the society is coming
up with new modern gender roles for women
that are highly praised, such as working, then
the society will need to define new gender roles
that allow both men and women take good care

of themselves, their partner, and their children in the most balanced way. Some
societies create new, additional gender roles, such as expectation of women to have a
profession. However, they still continue to give high importance to children, highly
values mothers? care of their children or see parental care of young children to be
important for the future of the society. Therefore, these societies need to realize that the
creation of other new social norms is needed in order to balance all these social values
and needs. Additionally, country and organizational laws, polices and infrastructures will
need to change in a way that they could support new norms. Best decisions for each
country can be found through a national team brainstorming that includes policy
makers, women themselves, men, professionals of multiple disciplines, and diverse
organizations. Examples of issues that need to be addressed will be about maternal and
paternal leave; benefits given to parents during leave; job security; options for working
from home; flexibility of sick days that could be used for employees or employees?
children; financial security for stay at home mothers; and creating long distance jobs
that are hourly, part time or full time for stay at home partners. It should be notes that
the median annual salary of a stay at home mother considering the multitasking and
overtime work they do is estimated to be about $117,000 (Forbes, 2016) - $162,581
(Salary.com, 2018) USD.
Feeling empowered creates a sense of confidence, self-belief, motivation, and
determination. It positively affects ones mental and physical health, increases one?s
energy level and sense of hope. This makes the individual want to go through
challenges, and the individual is more motivated to attend to his/ her health.
Empowerment increases individuals? sense of peace, and positively affects their life

satisfaction and quality of life.
Supporting the empowerment of both
genders within a society is a key factor in
supporting the crisis of global mental and
physical health and decreasing its related
financial national burden. In order to
support the empowerment of one gender,
the other gender?s empowerment will also
need to be supported. Empowering men
while disempowering women will mean
men will have partners who have
compromised mental and physical health,
satisfaction in life, and quality of life. To
support
men?s
empowerment
and
societies? economic power, we cannot
forget the empowerment of women. On
the other hand, to empower women we
cannot become one-sided and think men
and boys have it all right, and their gender
roles serve them fully right! In August 2018,
APA developed guidelines for psychology
practice with boys and men. It explained
the distress that men and boys could go
through due to their culturally expected
gender roles. We expect men to be strong
and we teach them to not show emotions,
such as sadness, because those emotions
are weak. We teach them not to cry,
because it is a weak behavior. However,
aggression and anger are allowed, since
those emotions are socially translated into
power and strength, which is expected of
both boys and men. The sad part is that
when men face difficulties and challenges
or experience these so called weak
emotions, they are taught to never show
them and keep all to themselves, because
they do not want to be perceived as weak.
They are expected to be strong and only
strong! They assume, since every other
man is silent then that means those men
do not have any issues and they are all
strong and perfect men. However, men do
not know that every other man is dealing
with the same issue; keeping their
emotional distress and problems silently
within, and similarly assuming no other
man has a problem!
The above view has been written based on
the many research papers that I have read
for my dissertation work, the interviews and

pre-coding that I have conducted on
women?s empowerment, an APA credit that I
have gained for passing an exam on the
guidelines for psychology practice with boys
and men, and my training in positive
psychology. Additionally, the approach
towards women?s empowerment comes
from my training as a PhD candidate in
International psychology. As International
Psychologists, we are trained that in order to
understand
and
find
solutions
for
large-scale global issues, such as women?s
empowerment
a
multidimensional,
multidisciplinary, and multi determined lens
need to be used. The guiding principles
used in IP work are APA ethical principles of
psychologist and code of conduct, Universal
Declaration of Ethical Principles, UN Global
Compact, and ISO26000. International
psychologists attend to global issues with a
consideration of national laws, psychological
ethical principles, cultural values, context,
history, needs, and resources. Additionally, a
mix of top- down, bottom-up, and middle
out approach are used for addressing these
issues.
Issues
such
as
women?s
empowerment also need attention to
intersectionality, such as the effects of the
intersection of gender, race, nationality,
ethnicity, financial and educational statues,
class, and ability (Nakhid et al., 2018; Shileds,
2008). I look forward to finalizing my
dissertation work and share its results in a
future article. To the health, happiness, and
empowerment of women, men and children!
Global peace will require supporting the
empowerment and global mental and
physical health of both genders.

Maryam Tafreshi is a PhD candidate in
International Psychology (IP) concentrating
in Systems and Organization from The
Chicago School of Professional Psychology
(TCSPP). Mrs. Tafreshi has a Masters degree
in IP and Bachelors in Microbiology. Her
thesis developed a program to support
expatriate couples' happiness and her
dissertation work in progress is ?Women?s
perspectives
on
empowerment:
A
phenomenological research on attitudes
and policies?. Maryam envisions a world
where people can thrive in life through
sustaining optimum overall health.

1. Tell us about Digit al Right s Foundat ion
Pakist an, w hen w as it formed?
Digital Rights Foundation was founded in
2012 and is a registered based advocacy
NGO which focuses on ICTs to support
human rights, democratic processes and
digital governance. DRF also focuses on
privacy in the digital age, data protection
and online harassment and its implications
on the offline world.
2. W hat is
organizat ion?

t he

vision

behind

t he

We started the organization with one time
sessions in universities across Pakistan
under the Hamara Internet banner in which
we focused on online harassment and the
prevention of electronics crimes act. We
would encourage women to reclaim online
spaces and use the internet in a responsible
manner. The response we got through
these sessions was overwhelming, however
we also identified the lags that were
prevalent in terms of cyber crime reporting.
The challenges were immense and when
Qandeel Baloch's case came through in
which her information was shared online
due to which an honor killing took place, we
realized we needed to do much more in
order to avoid cases like Qandeel's from
happening again.
3. DRF and it s founder Nighat Dad
challenge some of t he toughest issues
across t he Pakist ani societ y, from being
t he advocate of t he nat ion's digit al right s
to t aking mat ters head on relat ing to
Qandeel Baloch and Meesha Shafi, W hat
is t he drive behind?
It is never easy to take a stance in Pakistan
especially if you're a woman because the
dynamics are so very different and our
experiences vary due to our gender. DRF
has always been an organization which
adopts the feminist approach and tries to
tackle the gendered aspect of these issues
in a careful manner. Qandeel and Meesha's
case were two such cases in which not only
did Nighat Dad take a stand but the entire
organization came to a consensus about
supporting them and working to make

offline and online spaces safer for women.
In a patriarchal and conservative society like
Pakistan it is important to be headstrong
and true to your principles which is
something that has also been a top priority
in DRF.
4. In your opinion, w hat needs to be done
from a policy and legal aspect to alleviate
t he plight of t he ordinary women?
Pakistan is trying to adapt to the changing
times and trying to introduce policies which
are women centric, however we have a long
way to go before we can make online and
offline spaces safer for women. Policies by
legislators in the country are being
introduced on a regular basis, however
there is lack of awareness amongst
individuals regarding what the law says and
how much safety does it actually provide to
women. Apart from that implementation of
the law is extremely limited and with lack of
sensitization within the law enforcement
agencies, new problems emerge on a
regular basis which is why the ordinary
women of Pakistan aren't able to exercise
their legal rights within the country. In order
for women to have their full legal rights, it is
important to go to the grass root levels and
teach them about the law and also change
these patriarchal and conservative mindsets
regarding women having an online
presence.
5. Can you tell us about Hamara Internet
and how can we raise aw areness about
t he digit al right s of t he Pakist ani people?
Hamara Internet is a campaign which talks
about reclaiming online spaces for women
and focusing on these spaces being safe
and secure for all. In Pakistan we have seen
how just like in offline spaces women are
discouraged to express themselves online
and since there is an imminent threat to
women in these spaces then in turn women
tend to avoid these spaces. It is important to
cover more about the developments in
digital rights discourse in the country and
also for the media to acknowledge that the
online spaces are evolving and the threat in
these spaces are serious and should be

taken seriously by every individual.
6. W hat , in your opinion, needs to be done to empower t he Pakist ani woman digit ally?
The most crucial thing that needs to be done to empower women in online is to provide
them access to technologies so that they can use online spaces. We already see a wide
digital and gender divide between men and women in the country and how most
women are afraid to reveal their identities online because of this very divide. Making sure
that women have access to technology and the concept of women using the internet
isn't a taboo in our society. It is also important to ensure that the implementation of laws
takes places in the country and women aren't discouraged to exercise their rights online
which can only be done if there is good legislation and if the implementation is also done
at the grassroot level.
7. PECA has been quite cont roversial - can you tell us w hy and how it could be aligned
to t he w ill of t he people and in line w it h basic human right s?
W hen the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act was introduced to the public it was said
that the law will create safe avenues for women in online and the primary use of the law
was to make online spaces safer for women, however that being said the law itself has
some very problematic sections which directly target our fundamental human rights. The
law is extremely vague and can be taken out of context in terms of our freedom of
expression. The law also gives a lot of power to the law enforcement agencies in the
country which further creates a hindrance in terms of transparency and accountability.
Now that PECA has been out in the public for about two years and we have seen some
convictions happening around it , it is important to learn from our mistakes and rectify

these within the law so that further problems do not emerge.
Any legislation in the country should align with the
fundamental human rights guaranteed by the constitution and
if a particular legislation does not do so, it is important not only
to acknowledge that a problem exists within the law but also
to analyze it and rectify it.
8. Can you tell us about DRF's cyber harassment line and
some of t he major issues t hat t he organizat ion has come
across t hrough t his init iat ive?
DRF started the cyber harassment helpline back in 2016 and
till now we have received a total of 2781 complaints on it. The
three basic services that helpline provides is digital security
assistance, psychological help and legal aid to individuals. We
have had an overwhelming response on the helpline and over
the years we have seen the menace that is online harassment
and it is only increasing as we go on further. Through the
helpline, we have realized that further awareness regarding
the safe use of technologies is important and it is also
important to educate people regarding PECA and how they
can exercise their rights and not be blackmailed into
something for the rest of their lives. The helpline functions
every day from 9 am till 5 pm and aims to create awareness
regarding how to use online spaces in safe and secure manner.
9. Tell us about your recent ly launched init iat ive Ab Aur
Nahin?
DRF just launched the Ab Aur Nahin legal portal for victims of
abuse and harassment. The portal is a directory of lawyers
from across the country who have signed up to provide pro
bono services to victims of abuse. In light of the # Metoo
movement we saw how Meesha's voice gave strength to many
individuals to come forward with their stories and share their
experiences. We also saw how most people identified that
they weren't aware of the current legislation dealing with
abuse and harassment and how getting legal help was a
cumbersome process. DRF received a number of cases from
women sharing their stories and that is when the team
decided to sit down together and come up with this directory.
The team worked on this portal day in and day out on
volunteer basis and ensured that whoever joined the initiative
would know the responsibility that is being bestowed on them.
The legal portal compromises of more than 50 women and we
have to expand it further and also address the mental health
issues the victims face. Ab Aur Nahin has been the product of
the blood, sweat and tears of many individuals and we hope
the initiative provides help and proves to be a good resource
for all.

Sh ared
Responsi bi l i ty
For Ch ange
Z i a S. Hasan w ri tes about th e
emergence ch ange f or gender
eq ual i ty ? a stronger f emi ni ne era
and soci ety?s responsi bi l i ty to create
an eq ual w orl d.
After centuries of male dominance, we are viewing a threshold of change ? an emerging
stronger feminine era. As a result of continuous gender equality awareness campaigns,
many women can now make their own choices, have their voices heard and respected.
However, the struggle is not yet over as women are still fighting for their role in society.
Although the glass ceiling is being raised compared to recent years, it still exists.
Interestingly, women have always been strong and fearless from the inception of
mankind. But only until recently, society has started to understand and accept the true
strength of this gender. It is a continuous struggle as many among us are still
disempowered. Women are still being ridiculed, unequally treated and ignored. This
emphasizes the significance of a continuous movement to trigger a change in the
mindset, belief systems and the elimination of patriarchy.
Change begins from within. As one person changes, he influences the ones around him
and so on, creating a ripple effect that brings a revolution of change. As I write of change,
we must understand that the change I am mentioning here is the change in our thinking,
and firmly believing that men and women are equal and have a shared responsibility in

the society. Equality by no means is going against men or to
create any negative competition between men and women.Both
are certainly different physically, mentally, and emotionally yet
similar in many aspects - both are human, imperfect, and need
each other?s support to grow, excel. So it is definitely not rocket
science that both should strive to complement each other in
their shared struggle to improve life.Gender rights do not mean
superiority of one gender over the other; but about how others
treat you (among other things), especially those with authority
over you.
As the famous American musician, John Legend, says, "All men
should be feminists. If men care about women's rights, the world
will be a better place."Men are greatly influenced by their
upbringing, and social environment in which they have grown
and matured. Going forward, we can overcome the gender gap
by starting to teach men, from a young age and continuously as
they grow and mature, about the true strength and value of
women in their lives whether they are their mothers, wives,
sisters, daughters, friends or colleagues. Let?s not forget that
equality for women does not fall entirely on women?s shoulders.
As much as we love to put all the blame on mothers in raising
good sons, we rarely highlight the importance of promoting
?Feminist Fathers?. Equality begets equality. The feminist father
raises happier, balanced, and more successful kids. Both sons
and daughters benefit when they are nurtured as equals. Kids?
confidence and beliefs about themselves and others are shaped
by the world around them specially by the parents. A Father
must appreciate his daughter?s leadership skills when she is
being bossy. Celebrate her efforts to lead and help her build her
confidence. Similarly, teach your sons empathy and respect for
women around them. Boys who grow up in gender equal homes
are more likely to create equal homes when they become
fathers.
In short, it takes everyone, and it is everyone?sresponsibility to
create an equal world. Real men treat women with dignity and
give them the due respect they deserve.For most men, it is
critical to overcome their ignorance and chauvinism and need to
believe in women. They can create a huge difference. Fathers
need to believe in daughters. Brothers need to believe in sisters.
Nations need to believe and invest in their women. Everyone is
an influencer. Women should enjoy equal rights, not because
men must ensure it, but because it benefits the society in the
long run. It effects the growth and prosperity of the community
and the future generations.
Zia S. Hasan is the Co-founder and Director of NShield Solutions, a
Nanotechnology based surface protection company in Pakistan
and the UAE. She is the first and only woman in Pakistan who is
leading the Auto Detailing and Ceramic Glass Coating business,
breaking barriers and setting an example of change for other
women to follow. She firmly believes that women empowerment
can be achieved through awareness and education. She can be
reached at: zia.hasan@nshieldsolutions.com

Th e A gony of
I ncarcerati on
and
Parenti ng

A deronk e Egbedun
w ri tes about f emal e
i nmates i n Ni geri a.
Law is not a respecter of persons when an offense
is committed, the offender faces its wrath; which
implies that judgments in the court of law is not
gender biased, its sword pierces both genders. In
Nigeria, however, many people have found
themselves in prison for reasons they know
nothing about. Some are even awaiting trials for
decades for minor offenses. Nigerian prisons are
overpopulated and overcrowded and there is an
urgent need for intervention by the federal
government.
This is a major factor that makes life unbearable for
prison inmates. In most Nigerian prisons, there are
approximately 2,000 inmates. Out of this number,
only about 10 percent are convicts serving their
various jail terms. The remaining ones are 'awaiting
trial' inmates, the cells therefore are overcrowded.
For example, A cell (1 ward 2 cell) measuring 32
feet in length and 28 feet in width has
approximately 100 inmates staying there. It has a
capacity for only 40! Almost a hundred prisoners
use only one bathroom and two toilets. Because of
this people easily contact diseases, especially skin
rashes, Apollo , Chicken pus, conjunctivitis and
even STDs.
Therefore I decided to write about the agony of
female inmates in Nigeria , no one seems to be
talking about them. These women " are the
forgotten ones". I am not here to justify why and
how they got there but I chose to lend my voice so
we can all rise up to speak collectively and fight for
their rights, their fundamental human rights. In
Nigerian prison, the quality of food being served to
the inmates is nothing to write home about. Their
soup is called water soup, for obvious reasons, the
beans, rice are nothing but a mess, the sizes of
meat and fish served the inmates are as small as
candy. Due to the poor quality of food served the
inmates, they are malnourished.
The health facilities in prisons are not adequate. It
can only bear the care of minor health challenges
that women experience, such as headache,

typhoid fever, measles, small pox, chicken pox. Retroviral drugs for HIV
positive inmates are available. Health facilities at the prisons are unable to
take care of female inmates with sight (eyes) problems, tooth aches, kidney
problems, liver problems, mentally deranged fellows, pregnant female
inmates, and serious cases that require surgery etc. Hence lack of adequate
health facilities can be fatal.
It has been reported that the Nigerian Prisons Service does not provide
essential items such as soaps, tooth brush, tooth paste, chewing sticks, tissue
papers, sanitary pads, body creams, detergents, inner wears (pants and
singlet), and slippers for the female inmates. They only provide meagre
amounts of food. This simply means that inmates are left to fend for
themselves on essential items. W hilst the inmates from higher
socio-economic backgrounds manage to access these items, inmates from
lower socio-economic backgrounds simply end up as shadow of themselves.
Poverty is another virus eating deep into women than men, which renders
unable to hire lawyers, many female inmates are deprived of their rights of
securing their freedom. As a result, many of them spend up to 10 years in
prison (awaiting trials) without going to court. Furthermore, the National
Council of Women Society (NCWS) reported earlier that 90 percent of female
inmates in Nigeria prison are either pregnant or nursing mothers. It has been
alleged that most of these female inmates were impregnated by their
Investigating Police Officers who promised to assist them out of the case
when they were detained at their respective police stations. There are some
married inmates who were already pregnant before being remanded. Yet

others, reports allege, might have been impregnated inside
prison premises "under special arrangement". Children born
in prison also suffer immensely. Lacking love and attention,
home-training, victims of psychological torture; they are
stigmatized by society and even name tagged omo ?l?won.
They are completely devoid of any knowledge about the
existence of life outside the walls of prisons. Therefore, 90
per cent of children born inside prisons grow up
marginalised and vulnerable and detached from society.
It is our duty as upright denizens of the world that we rescue
these forgotten women and their children from demoralizing
agonies and wickedness. Violence against women in any
form, from any quarters is a violence against womanhood;
we all must stand up to speak and fight for their rights. I then
call on United Nations, International Organisations and
individuals that as we celebrate this year International
Women's Day, we should all remember the forgotten ones,
the women and children under incarceration.
Suggesti ons
1. There should be special amnesty by the Nigerian
President for inmates (both convicts and awaiting trials) who
have spent 15 years and above. The only criteria for this
special amnesty should be good behaviour, positively
changed character and fear of God, attested to by prison
authorities. This special amnesty by the President should
take place twice every year, precisely on (a) Independence
anniversary day, October 1, and (b) Democracy Day, May 29.
2. Patriotic citizens of Nigeria and organisations should play
their roles by visiting prison inmates scattered across the
various prison yards in the country with items such as
packaged foods, tissue papers, detergents, bar soaps, toilet
soaps, sanitary pads, tooth brushes, underwear, slippers,
body
cream,
tooth
pastes.
3. Decongestion of prisons by setting up of special
committees across the states to review cases of inmates
who are awaiting trials, but who have not gone to court for
trials after being remanded for two years in prison should be
supported. The committees should have the following
personalities as members: i. State Chief Judges ii. Attorneys
General and Commissioners for Justice iii. State High Court
Registrars iv. Administrative Judges v. A responsible elder
statesman vi. A respected Catholic or Anglican or
Pentecostal bishop.
4. Adjournment of various cases should not ideally go
beyond one week. Through this method, inmates who are
innocent of the crimes for which they were remanded in

prison would be released, discharged and
acquitted, while those who committed crimes are
sentenced with various jail terms as quickly as
possible.
5. Special concessions should be given to women
who gave birth to babies in prisons. They should be
granted bail, depending on the crime, so that they
attend their court cases from their various homes.

6. Establishment of women?s empowerment
centers, where women can get training in various
skills. A time wasted is life wasted.
7. There should be improved health facilities at the
prisons.
8. Women lawyers should volunteer to assist
awaiting trial female inmates who are unable to
fund
their
cases
in
courts.
Through the outlined strategies, the challenges
facing female inmates in Nigeria would be
ameliorated, and the larger Nigerian society will be
better.
Ref.
- Citizen Iwuoha, former Senior Special Assistant on
Media.
Source
News
Express
Posted 18/ 09/ 2015
-The Publication of National Council of Women
Society (NCWS) in an online news of Dec 15, 2016

Aderonke Egbedun is a professional teacher who
started her teaching career in the year 2005, she is
committed to advocacy and environmental
protection. As a graduate of Biology Education and a
former intern of Ananke, she is taking various climate
actions by fighting the menace "climate change"
through tree planting, advocating for everywoman
and girlchild on pressing issues such as #GBV, #FGM,
#girlsnotbride that affect them so as to ensure their
total liberty and fulfillment.

Gender
Eq ual i ty
Sh i f ti ng
Paradi gms
Roch el l e R. Dean w ri tes about
soci etal norms, tradi ti onal v al ues
and a sh i f t i n th e West i n
adv anci ng gender eq ual i ty.
Psychological
prejudices in
Western
societies toward gender equality has been
the accelerator to affirmative action policies
that
increase
female
representation.
Affirmative action policies have been the
key to counteract prejudices that have
become norm within society and perhaps
the most transformative to address the
systematic discrimination that women
endure.
As traditional values and societal norms are
replaced for unconventional values, the
Western world has seen a shift in advancing
gender equality. Gender equality is not
about males and females mirroring each
other to achieve fairness. It is about men
and women being of equal status and value.
It is about women being respected for who
they are and being valued for their role in
society rather than focusing on reversing
gender roles. It is about women embracing
their strength and without fear of
oppression or being considered dangerous
or uncontrollable. It is about removing
prejudice?s that are still so widespread that
we often aren?t aware of them because they
have become acceptable to our very
existence and in our own biases and
prejudice?s that dictate who we are as
individuals.
In Western societies it?s normal for men to
be charismatic and successful when he
dresses well and is charming far
outreaching his ability, skill set or intellect.
The disparity can become dangerous to
equal opportunity when women who exhibit

the same characteristics are viewed as showy,
shallow or promiscuous. It is difficult for women to
advance her career in any industry unless attaching
herself to a male who may not be as good as she is
but is thrust into the leadership role. And then there
are the females who are perceived as threats and
their assertiveness is confused for aggression or
bitterness when men can exhibit the same behavior
and be the leader in the room. Society gives men a
pass because of patriarchal norms and we must
embrace and therefore we should celebrate the
few success stories including the men who have
had so many obstacles and statistics.
Conforming to patriarchal norms is harmful to
women?s rights. The tradition of female genital
mutilation that is deeply entrenched in some
cultures and the women who embrace this thinking
are as complicit as the midwives who perform FGM
on young girls. We must be fair to our girls and
women and recognize our need to support women
in all areas and sectors. From the home as mothers
to the board room. We must develop a sisterhood
that sees the need to embrace girls in the
unconventional areas of our lives so that our values
can remain an intrinsic part of what gives us
equality. For values to remain, we must allow room
for corrective measures in our lives that make
women accountable but also can navigate them
back to the right path. Its easier for men to be
redirected toward success while women are left
with these biases and prejudices and usually
influenced by other women.
On this International Women?s Day, I encourage
women everywhere to embrace who we are and
the roles that we play as women. There may have
been progress made with implementing laws and
sex discrimination policies that suggest that gender
equality itself has been achieved but women still
face challenges because of their biological sex.
Therefore, perhaps we simply continue to live in a
patriarchal society and not so much an equal one.
Rochelle R. Dean CPC, MCP is a Columnist, she sits
an editorial board member of a scholarly journal in
the field of economics and is a honorary staff
member of Ananke. She is also a contributing writer
with the Bahamas Weekly and a 2016/ 2017
Empower Women Champion for Change.

Teen f antasy w ri ter and a moth er, Ev geni a K retov a
f rom Russi a i s a creati v e w ri ti ng prodi gy h av i ng w on
mul ti pl e nati onal l i terary competi ti ons and aw ards.
Sh e speak s to A nank e?s A nastasi ya Pantsi al ei about
Russi an cl i mate, f ami l y, contemporary youth ?
readi ng h abi ts and h er success secrets.
Ev geni a K retov a became popul ar af ter w i nni ng
mul ti pl e nati onal and regi onal l i terary competi ti ons.
I mage f rom th e personal arch i v e of Ev geni a K retov a .
You got a degree in Law in Moscow City
Pedagogical University. When did you
start writing?
I have been writing since school, when I
was about 15. But I didn?t see this as a
possible career path. That?s why I devoted
myself to getting a Jurisprudence degree.
But a habit of collecting notes, pieces of
ideas persisted. Gradually the folder on my
desk was filling. I took the creative writing
as a profession seriously back in 2014,
when I was awaiting for my younger kid to
be born. I had a difficult pregnancy with a
long stay in hospital. I had much free time
and a need to get distracted from anxieties

connected with the baby waiting. That was
the time I started working on Vershiteli
(trans.Foremen ? journalist remark), called
?Tayny Velikoy Tartarii? (trans. The Mystery
of the Great Tartarland ? journalist remark)
back then. This narrative got to the
long-list of the ?Novaya Detskaya Kniga?
(trans.The New Children Book ? journalist
remark) competition in 2015, and, after
modification, ?Vershiteli?was recognized as
the Best Teen Fantasy, according to the
literary award ?Rukopis goda? (trans.The
Manuscript of the year ? journalist remark).
When was your first book published? How
did it go, hundreds of emails to the

publishers or one lucky try?
Of course, hundreds of emails took place.
But my first publication, a children?s fairy
taleabout a mouse called Kysh, was after
the competition participation. My other
books
are
still
published
only
electronically,
and
the
publishing
negotiations have not been finished yet.
How did it happen that you have won so
many literary competitions and awards?
And how many of them I haven?t won! But
at a particular stage only competition
winning can bring attention to your work
and lead to publication. Besides that,
almost all of the competitions are held in
the Internet, which is an opportunity to
find new readers.
Why teen literature?
I do like this direction myself: adventures,
the romance of new worlds and
discoveries, risk, desire to find yourself
and understand yourself. And almost
always it?s a happy end. It is exciting. Of
course, sometimes I have thoughts about
?big? prose, a serious character, ?adult?
world. But right now there is no such
character in my head that would captivate
me enough to start writing about it.
It is t hought t hat teenagers are reading
less and less now adays. W hat is your
opinion?
Teenagers have different reading habits. It
was always like that. Did everyone read in
our generation of nineties? There was
always some potential conflict between
?the fathers and the children?, you know,
?in our time??I do communicate a lot with
teens and the youth. They have a
saturated
life.
There
are
many
opportunities and challenges, which
means much interesting besides books.
Sport, music, cinema, hobbies, mastering
the future career, and clubs are also
important.
And
the
contemporary
teenager can?t live without that. But when
adults start imposing their opinion, it often
causes rejection. This is one situation.
Many stop reading because the books
offered by the adults do not represent the
issues teens encounter. They do not give
advice a teen looks for. It is a completely
different situation, but it is also quite
widespread. There are not many books of
contemporary authors in the library, and

they are difficult to find in the bookstore.
We lack popularization of contemporary
authors.
What is the secret of an interesting
book?
The character. If you are interested in the
character, you won?t put the book away.
Do you read a lot? Who are your favorite
authors?
I do read a lot, but less and less fiction,
cause I work much with the specialized
literature for creative writers and also
with Physics, Chemistry, Biology books.
Right now I am reading about the
mythology of Eastern Slavic people and
psychiatry. There are so many interesting
contemporary authors who I read with
pleasure, for example, Dina Rubina,
Ludmila
Petrushevskaya,
Mariam
Petrosyan,Narine
Abgaryan,
Tamara
Krukova, Julia Lavriashina, Daria Dotsuk,
Lada
Kutuzova,
and
Ekaterina
Karetnikova. From the foreign literature I
like Dan Brown, David Brin, and John
Connolly.
Why did you decide to move to
Blagoveshchenskafter
living
in
Moscowand Tbilisi? How do you sustain
the cold climate?
I also lived in Yakutiafor 5 years, which is
what is called ?cold?.But it is a question of
habit. W hen you live in such climate, you
don?t really notice it. As <Michail>
Zoshchenkosaid, ?A man is not cattle. He
can get used to everything.? How did I
appear here?... I came with my husband
to work. It was a very interesting period of
time in my life. And it was a unique
experience taken with pleasure by the
readers. One of the characters in the
second part of ?Vershiteli? is a
granddaughter of Evenki shaman, and
the legend itself is placed around the
legendary Yakut Kigils. The female
character of ?Navigator iz Nerungri?
(trans.Navigator from Nerungi ? journalist
remark) is a citizen of this small town in
southern Yakutia. She later became a
unique specialist of the Uniform Galactic.
So it?s all happening not just like that.
Tell us a little bit about your family. Does
your daughter Varvara read your books?
Of course, she does. She is my first critic
and beta-reader. I would like her to read

my books after publication, when
the text is completely ready. But
she doesn?t wait for that, she
takes the printed pages before
they cool down sometimes even
earlier than me. If she read it
quickly without being distracted
by her girlfriends, the chapter is
good. If she asks if I wrote another
chapter by the evening, the
chapter is really good. And if she
starts washing the dishes saying,
?Go write further, I?m dying of
curiosity?, it?s all super and I am
very happy as a writer.

Teen mystery author, Evgenia Kratovo judges the
quality of her books by opinion of her 15-year old
daughter. Image from the personal archive of
Evgenia Kretovaa

Have Varvara ever been the
prototype for your characters?
Did she give you ideas for your
books?
No, it hasn?t directly happened
yet, except for some characters?
traits or replicas.
Does your daughter want to
become a writer in the future?
What does she dream about?
My daughter either wants to
become a journalist or a singer.
She in some way succeeds in
both. We will support whichever
she chooses. The most important
thing is that she loves her future
career.
How did your childhood influence
your oeuvre?
Family is the most important thing
in life. My parents have a huge
library they?ve been collecting for
all their life. My father is military,
so we moved many times. And
the biggest part of our luggage
has always been books. We read
out loud and discussed and
debated. Of course, it influenced
my love towards books and my
taste. My parents are a bit
shocked by my career change.
But it seems they are glad.
Is writing still your hobby or
profession?
Does
it
bring
revenue?
Right now it is already a
profession. And, of course, it
brings revenue.

Did your sex affect your career? Have you faced
prejudice or discrimination?
I haven?t faced it yet, except for the fantastic detective
?Navigator iz Nerungi?. There is something here and
there. But I don?t pay attention to that. It is a youth
thriller, and the youth doesn?t pay much attention to
that. I received most of the interest from the young men
on the last meetings with readers.
Where do you find inspiration for your books?
Most often the life itself gives ideas. It is so different
that it created it all for us. I just observe and write it
down. Sometimes I come up with ideas while reading
an article about scientific discoveries or hypothesis or
while watching the documentaries.
How is the writing process held?
The most difficult part is research and the world
creation, its laws, location. Then I systematize all that, I
take the essential and throw away the unimportant. I
work on the characters as descriptively as possible. I
have to know everything about them, what they like
and hate, which side of the body they sleep on, what
they are allergic to and which form, their beliefs and

passions, skeletons in their wardrobes, fears, habits, and
specific words. I sometimes use only 10 to 15% of that
information in the text. Then I build the outline of the plot,
its main direction. I fix the points where characters have
to behave in a certain way. Then each block, each point
is worked on more precisely. And only then I start
working on the text itself.
What do you dream about?
If you tell your dream in public, it becomes a plan. Yes, I
do have a dream. I hope it gets real. I work on that. I plan
to continue working on ?Vershiteli?, write the second part
of the ?Alteraty? and ?Navigator?. Probably there will be
some competitions I will take part in.
Do you plan to translate your books to other languages?
Yes, I do have such plans.
What advice can you give to young ambitious authors?
Oh! It?s difficult. And it looks like I am ?old and
experienced.? I am still a young author myself. But,
anyway, go ahead. You can?t succeed if you don?t try.
The interview was translated from Russian to English by
Anastasiya Pantsialei

M adi na K al i mul l i na

A Woman Of
Substance
I lsi i a I delba eva wr i t es a H ERst or y on M a di na
K a li m ulli na ,Execut i ve secr et a r y of Russi a n Associ a t i on of
Exper t s i n I sla m i c fi na nce, m em ber of t he Wor ki ng gr oup
for pa r t ner shi p ba nki ng under t he Cent r a l Ba nk of Russi a ,
m em ber of t he Exper t Counci l for legi sla t i on on pa r t ner shi p
econom i cs a nd fi na nce under t he St a t e Dum a of Russi a .

Madina Kalimullina holds a PhD in economics, is executive secretary of Russian
Association of Experts in Islamic finance since 2010, member of the Working group for
partnership banking under the Central Bank of Russia, member of the Expert Council
for legislation on partnership economics and finance under the State Duma of Russia,
lecturer on Islamic economics and finance. Director (2010 ? 2015) and managing
partner (2016-2017) of Moscow Halal Expo. Since 2015 Madina Kalimullina is a founder
and managing partner of Alif Consult LLC. The company's main activities are related to
Islamic finance and halal industry projects development and marketing and as well
conducting the Halfood exhibition. Coordinated the project for AAOIFI Shariah
standards translation into the Russian language (2016-2017) as well as preparing for
publication translation of a number of other outstanding books on Islamic finance.
Since 2018 Madina joined the project of Higher School of Economics for agriculture
export promotion and Islamic investment tools implementation.
Madina Kalimullina was also a teacher of several study programs such as Islamic

Finance (MIRBIS Business University), Islamic Financial Markets and Financial
Instruments (Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation),
Islamic Economic Model: Concept and religious and ethical foundations, Features of
Islamic Business Law (National Research University Higher School of Economics), Islamic
Economics at the Islamic College of the Moscow Region, and a lecturer on Islamic
finance in various seminars and workshops.
In 2015 she was awarded by the annual Banking award of Russia for the contribution to
the development of the alternative banking in Russia. Member of ISLAMICA 500 (since
2015). In 2016 was awarded a diploma of the National Rating Agency for the contribution
in Islamic Finance Development. Included in the list of TOP 50 / 100 women in Islamic
Finance in 2017 / 2018.
In 2018 awarded a prize of the International Association of Islamic Business for the

contrition of entrepreneurship development.
Madina Kalimullina was born and grew up in Magnitogorsk city of Russia which is in the
Urals. She studied in a secondary school ? 33 specializing in English language. As she
noted, love to knowledge and self-perfection have always been natural in her family. In
the 11thgrade she won the city Olympiad in mathematics and before that ? in technical
drawing. After graduation of school like her elderly brother (and later ? her younger
brother) she decided to try her chances in entering a university in Moscow, the capital.
MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) was one of her choices and
she succeeded.
Later Madina Kalimullina?s main specialization became Islamic finance and business to
which she devoted over 10 years.
In 2014 Madina Kalimullina met a young man whose life understanding was close to hers
and they married several months later. In 2018 their daughter was born.

Madina Kalimullina finished the Bachelor
studies at Moscow State Institute of
International Relations, after that in 2007
Madina Kalimullina received master degree
in World Economy at the same university.
The same year she graduated from
Moscow Islamic Institute getting the status
of a teacher of Islamic studies. That period
she had already started studying Islamic
economics and finance and devoted to it
her master thesis. And in the Islamic
institute she wrote the diploma paper on
zakat,obligatory charity in Islam,and its
practical issues (later in 2009 a practical
manual on Zakat was published). Before
graduation she was invited to join the
International Relations Department of the
Council of Mufties of Russia to start and
manage projects related to education
abroad and implementation of the IDB
(Islamic Development Bank) programme for
providing interest-free loans to the local
students.
Madina Kalimullina has PhD in Economics.
A topic of her post-graduate degree which
she wrote and defended in 2011 at the
Finance University under the Government
of the Russian Federation was the
Institutional aspects of Islamic business. Her
studies were in parallel with her work in
Russia Muftis Council (RMC) where in 2008
together with
her colleagues and
supported by the expert community with
the blessing the RMC chairman Mufti
sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin they initiated

programs and projects related to Islamic
economy and finance development. In
2009 ? 2011 they held several conferences,
created the Russian Association of Experts
in
Islamic
Finance,
implemented
professional courses on Islamic finance in
MIRBIS, and with the support of the
embassies and inviting organizations
several visits abroad were organized for
the Russian expert community to study the
international experience in Islamic finance
(Bahrain, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan etc.). As
well within the same period of time the
Moscow Halal Expo project was started
where Madina Kalimullina acted as a
director.
Since 2015 Madina is a founder and
managing partner of Alif Consult LLC. The
company's main activities are related to
Islamic finance and halal industry projects
development and marketing and as well
conducting the Halfood exhibition.
About Alif Consult LLC
The company?s mission is to provide
professional services, based on ethical
values of Islam, to the market players,
particularly those working on the halal
market or wishing to enter it. The aim is to
increase understanding and practical
realization of the Islamic business ethics
among companies and entrepreneurs and
raise market transparency.
So far the company has established a
professional b2b platform for halal

Madina Kalimullina at the 6th moderating of a panel session at Moscow Halal
Expo. 2016

business promotion in the form of a show under
registered brand HalfoodÂŽ. As well among current
achievements are organization and initial running of core
business processes related to providing services in such
areas as conducting professional seminars and trainings,
preparing and publication of the professional literature,
business consultancy, marketing services, contracts
expertise and Shariah control and audit over specific
financial tools and business operations.
About Halfood brand and MuslimEco blog
Halfood brand appeared as a logical extension of the
expertise on conducting Moscow Halal Exhibition. ?The
halal market in Russia is very young and scattered and
characterized with a permanent lack of cooperation.
Unregistered names and brands using the word ?halal?
are very common, but a registered brand is a necessity
to protect your idea or a project? as Madina Kalimullina
mentioned. Halfood is a professional b2b offline platform
aimed at providing halal producers a profound marketing
support and new business contacts.
The company started organizing the expo platform in
2016 and the new brand was registered in 2018. Halfood
2018 took place in Crocus Expo and alongside with the
Russian, CIS and Pakistani halal producers united broad
national segments for Indonesian and Syrian producers.
MuslimEco was established in 2009 as a news and
analytical website to support the activities of the Office
of Economic programs and later ? Economic department
of Russian muftis Council which Madina Kalimullina
headed in 2011 ? 2015. After her termination of work in
RMC and her marriage in 2015 less time was available to
development the website as an analytical platform and
after two years it was decided to transform the website
into a personal blog, which was also in line with the
common trend in online media.
Madina Kalimullina: ?I believe that the best and a truest
way of encouragement is a personal example. I never
had an aim or an objective to appeal to women for
certain actions or following some way of life. I just do and
follow what I believe is true and correct. But I often
received a feedback from young girls and women and
my example had become a kind of motivation for them.
And not only from women.
The truth is inside us, in case you are sincere with
yourself and follow your heart and mind, they will always
guide you.?

M ESSA GE
Sh ei k h a A i sh a
A l Qasi mi
Di rector, Saj aya
Young Ladi es of
Sh arj ah
I nternati onal
International Women?s Day is an important occasion when women are recognised for their
achievements around the world. The day calls for gender equality and justice to enhance
stability and wellbeing of the global community.
We, in the UAE, are proud of Emirati women, and recognise their efforts and achievements
every day. The nation?s leadership ensures that they have ample opportunities to play a
key role in the national development process, boosting their participation in scientific,
economic, political and sporting fields.
?I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the nation?s visionary leadership, especially the support we
have received from His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme
Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed
Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness, and Chairperson of the Rubu?Qarn Foundation for Creating
Future Leaders and Innovators,who are relentless in their efforts to providing girls and
women the opportunities they need to build their skillsets and thrive in in all walks of life.
Here at Sajaya, we seek to build a generation of empowered ladies who are able to be
active partners and contributors to the nation building process, and to the creation of a
more stable and safe future for generations to come.

Tell us a lit t le about yourself and your journey t hat led to Her Ground?
I am Pharmacist and entrepreneur by profession and did a job in a Pharmaceutical
company four years. Now running a social enterprise name ?Her Ground?.Growing up in a
middle-class family in Okara, it was a taboo to discuss menstruation. W hen I got my first
periods, I thought, I had cancer and will die soon. Frightenedly, I told my mother and she
gave me a piece of cloth and told not to wash that in front of others because it was kind
of sin. It was not until I moved to Faisalabad for my college, where I discovered that you
are supposed to use sanitary napkins. Many women in Pakistan go through similar and in
many cases worse experiences around their periods, although it is a natural part of a
woman's life. I kept thinking of this experience even after college, also because I started
working in a Pharmaceutical company, and thought I could do something about it. I did
not find my male friends/ family members encountering such issues in their life or health.
This inequality really shook me, especially when I learned about more horrible
experiences of shopping sanitary pads in Pakistan. The biggest motivation to me is the
size of the problem, I feel, I can touch so many lives and in ways help my fellow women
life a healthier and more confident life, and they can go on to do amazing things.
Starting a start-up is easier part, the building turned out to be more difficult. W ith no
background in technology or online commerce, I set out to launch a website. So, I quit
my job in Feb 2017, when I could not find a good developer, I learned how to set up the
website by myself, add products, write content and promote it. I reached out to a few
online communities, watched a YouTube tutorial and learned to use Adobe Photoshop as
well. It was a great learning experience for me, especially it gave me confidence that I

can go on to build an online business
and grow my skills in internet marketing
etc. Officially I have started ?Her Ground?
in 1st Sept 2017.
W hat is t he idea behind Her Ground
and your vision?
The Idea is to provide convenience and
to break the taboo and myths
associated with female reproductive
health
especially
related
to
menstruation. Because almost half of
the population are females and in which
79% don't have an excess of feminine
hygiene products due to lack awareness
and availability of feminine products at a
cost-effective price.
We have made an online portal, from
where women can easily select their
desired products according to their
budget, even women can choose their
desired date and time of delivery. We
delivered ?Her Box? at doorstep every
month. We believe in providing good
experience and privacy of the customer
is so important for us, so the woman can
buy their feminine hygiene products
without any hindrance. Second, we
believe in delivering awareness, so, the
woman can take care of their bodies
with proper hygiene. So, every month
we collect a pool of money from our

profit margin and go to public school to
provide awareness on health, hygiene,
and nutrition. Every online sale helps us
to offer the sanitary pads at an
affordable price to girls living in smaller
cities.
Our vision is to provide good health
products services, so the woman can
spend their lives full of health and
confidence.
The name of t he organizat ion/ your
enterprise 'Her Ground' w hat is t he
story behind it ?
The story behind the name of ?Her
Ground?, is that 'Her' called for female
and Ground mean the basic thing the
female need when they reaching to their
puberty level. ?Her Ground? means that
portal which has all the accessories
which a female needs at the time of the
month. Now, we are adding more
products in our online portal like
vitamins, supplement and birth control
pills to make woman life healthy and
more productive.
Women's healt h & Hygiene have been
quite t aboo topics especially in
Eastern societ ies, did t hat pose as a
challenge or do you t hink t he mindset
has changed?
It is a challenge in Pakistan. The reason

behind is that we are not talking about
female bodies, don't know what is
happening inside our body during
periods. Even female to female felt shy
if she is facing some reproductive health
issues like irregular periods, PCOS,
polycystic ovaries and PMS etc. In our
public schools during science study, a
paper is put on a female reproductive
picture because you are going toward
sins if you have seen it.
Now, female have shown their interest
when we went to schools to address on
female health. In starting, they felt shy,
but we make them comfortable by
sharing stories with them. We have
given them the environment from where
they can ask any question related to
their reproductive health.
W hat need did you see in t he market
t hat made you embark on t his
ent repreneurial journey?
Before starting the ?Her Ground?. I did a
research and was quite amazed to see
that only 21% females in Pakistan have
an excess of feminine hygiene products
(sanitary pads) and most of them felt shy
to buy it directly from a shop. Because in
Pakistan, sanitary napkins are sold like
illegal drugs, first selecting from the
shelf, putting into an envelope then
taken to the counter where male
shopkeeper make the situation very
uncomfortable for young female buyers
with stares and remarks. Remaining 79%
even didn't know about pads, due to
lack of education and availability of pads
at a cheap rate. I thought I can tap many
females by providing them an online
platform from where they can easily buy
their feminine care products.
Do you t hink your enterprise is aligned
w it h t his year's IW D2019 t heme: Think
equal, build smart , innovate for a
change? Please explain.
Yes, ?Her Ground? is aligned with this
year theme innovate to change, where
markets have failed.? As a customer of
sanitary napkins, I see how poorly
women are served by these companies
who claim to sing the song of women's
health. Upon learning and by doing

Ahead of International
Women's Day 2019,
Council
of
Europe
Commissioner
for
Human Rights Dunja
Mijatovi? issued the
following
statement
today:
"Women's rights are
human
rights
and
gender equality is a
fundamental value of
our
societies,
enshrined in human
rights
treaties.
Nevertheless, progress Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja
in advancing women's Mijatovi?
rights has not been
straightforward. We need to stand up for gender equality and reverse any stagnation in
its implementation.
Past advances in sexual and reproductive health and rights have been closely associated
with women's rights and have enabled women to make autonomous and informed
decisions about their bodies, health, sexuality and whether or not to have children. States
have an obligation to ensure that women can access affordable, safe and good-quality
reproductive health services.
However, many women in Europe continue to face denials and infringements of their
sexual and reproductive rights. A few states still maintain highly restrictive legal
frameworks which prevent or limit women's access to safe and legal abortion care, and
criminalise assistance given to it. In recent years, some countries have also adopted laws
and policies rolling back previous provisions by introducing new preconditions for access
to abortion care, such as mandatory waiting periods and biased counselling
requirements. In addition, there have been attempts, so far unsuccessful, in a few
countries to introduce near-total bans on abortion.
Refusals to provide abortion care by medical professionals on grounds of conscience
have become a serious barrier in countries in Europe where authorities have failed to
regulate this sector or to enforce existing regulation sufficiently to guarantee availability.
Too many women also experience violence and abuse during maternal health
procedures which is an affront to their human dignity. Women's organisations defending
sexual and reproductive rights and health professionals working in this field have been
subject to violence, threats and hate speech. The high cost of contraception and lack of
comprehensive sexuality education are further problems.
Women have the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
without discrimination under international and European human rights law. Several
countries are currently in the process of reforming their legislation on sexual and
reproductive health to meet their human rights obligations. I urge all governments to
uphold women's right to self-determination about their sexual and reproductive health,
and to ensure women's effective access to health care facilities, goods, services and
information. Instead of stagnating, we need to move forward on women's sexual and
reproductive rights."

Can you tell us w hat t he project Bridging t he Gap is all
about ? W hen w ill it be launched and w here? W hat are
t he main object ives of t he project ?
Bridging the Gap: Mapping Gender Data Availability in
Africais a new project from Data2X, and our partner Open
Data Watch, that seeks to contribute to international
efforts to understand, identify, and respond to the
ongoing challenge of producing policy-relevant data
about the lives of women and girls. Bridging the Gaplooks
at the availability of data about women and girls in 15
countries in sub-Saharan Africa across six domains of
women?s lives: health; education; economic opportunities;
political participation; human security; and, the
environment. Our goals are to understand regional gender
data gaps and to learn from countries that have managed
to close the gaps, pinpoint actionable, replicable
solutions, and share these lessons broadly.
We launched the technical report[NRB1] andsummary of
findings[NRB2] on March 7thalongside the 50 thsession of
the United Nations Statistical Commission in New York.
Is t here a link to/ connect ion bet ween t he current and
previous work Mapping Gender Dat a Gaps? W hat , in
your opinion, has improved and/ or changed in gender
dat a mapping since t hen?
Yes, this work builds on our original Mapping Gender Data
Gapsreport. That work, published in 2014, was the first
independent study to explore gender data gaps in
international databasesand launched efforts to find and
test innovative solutions to fill gender data gaps. In the
five years since that report was published, the Sustainable
Development Goals were agreed by 193 countries,
resulting in a whole set of indicators that countries need
to be able to measure. Gender data is a critical piece of
the SDG puzzle ? without it we will not be able to track
progress across the goals and meet our shared promise
to ?leave no one behind.? However, we only have data to
measure about one-third of the gender-relevant
indicators in the SDGs which demonstrates the urgency of
this issue.
Bridging the Gap helps us address this urgency by digging
deeply into what gender data availability actually looking
like at the country level. It shows that the coverage of
gender data is still very uneven, both across countries and
across domains. For example, while we have a lot of data
on health outcomes for women and girls, we still know
comparatively little about women?s economic activities,
and very little about how women participate in political
decision making at a local level or how environmental
changes impact women and men differently.
We?ve seen a number of important projects aimed at
improving how data on women and girls is produced

come to fruition in recent years. This is helping to build a strong bedrock for improved
gender data but much more work remains to be done.
According to Dat a2X website, Bridging t he Gap project orient s t he gap analysis of
gender dat a at t hree different levels: internat ional, nat ional, and micro. How does t he
level orient at ion impact on a gender dat a analysis?
Bridging the Gaplooks at data in three ways. First, we examined international databases
to assess the availability and coverage of their data. We then turned to national
databases for each of our 15 focus countries to see whether those countries were
producing the indicators we were studying. Our goal was to find out whether national
level policy makers have the information they need to make informed decisions. Finally,
to dig deep into the surveys and other sources for the data, including how often and to
what level of quality, we looked at the microdata sources. This enabled us to see that, for
example, while international databases produce indicators on a more regular basis, they
focus on a smaller number of them. National databases produce a wider variety of
information but on a less regular basis. We also saw that many countries get a large

proportion of their data from a small number of important international surveys. This
means there is an opportunity to diversify sources to generate more actionable insights.
W hat w as t he criteria in choosing count ries examined in t he report in t he upcoming
project ?
Bridging the Gapfocuses on 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We decided to focus on
gender data availability in these specific countries for two reasons. First, we wanted to
look at gender data availability within countries that have different income levels and
statistical capacities to reflect the diversity of the region. We chose these countries to
understand how gender data gaps can exist within different contexts, noting that these
15 countries represent 60% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa.
How does Dat a2X collaborate w it h t he count ries w it hin t he project Bridging t he
Gap?
Data2X will be working more closely with the 15 Bridging the Gapfocus countries
through our new gender data focal points program. Our work with these countries will
be guided in part by the findings of Bridging the Gapsince it pinpoints where the gaps in
gender data are in each country. Additionally, in the next phase of this project we will be
producing individual country assessment reports to be shared with the relevant
national statistical offices and other stakeholders.
Can you tell us, how t he process of gender dat a gaps examinat ion goes in t he
context of Bridging t he Gap project ? If it is possible, please, provide us w it h t he

specific examples of gender dat a analysis
of t he five original sectors.
To begin, we assembled a list of 104
gender-relevant indicators covering the six
focus areas of this project (economic
opportunities, health, education, human
security, political participation and the
environment). We chose both SDG and
non-SDG indicators because we believe
that these indicators, if produced regularly
and to a high standard, would provide most
of the information we need to be able to
monitor
and
deliver
on
current
commitments for women and girls.
Next, we looked at both international and
national databases to assess existing data,
specifically examining: availabilit y(whether
the 104 indicators were recorded at all in
any form over the period 2010 to 2018);
disaggregat ion(if the existing indicators
were sex-disaggregated and whether they
reported against additional disaggregations
such as geographic location, age, income
level, or disability status); adherence to
st andards(whether indicators were being
produced
according
to
international
standards); and, t imeliness(how recently
the indicators had been produced and if
they had a history of appearing frequently).
W hy is it import ant to examine gender
dat a gaps, how can it help as far as policy
making, women?s access and part icipat ion
in labour market s and t he fut ure of work is
concerned?
Examining gender data gaps? and filling
them? is critical for understanding the
unique experiences of women and girls and
for enabling policymakers to make more
informed decisions that improve their lives
and opportunities. For example, gender
data-informed policy can help improve
women?s access to and participation in
labor markets by recognizing their needs
and time constraints, which could translate
to better childcare policies, access to
time-saving investments like electricity, and
education or training opportunities. From
this research we know that only 7 of the
countries we studied produced an indicator
on hours spent in paid and unpaid work (by
sex) in the last 9 years. We need this data
more regularly, and from more countries, if
we want to increase women?s engagement

in the labor market and understand if
policies are having the desired effect. If we
do not properly measure and account for
women?s
current
contributions
to
economies and their current disadvantage
in accessing labor markets ? these
disadvantages will continue to play out in
the future, to the detriment of gender
equality and to country economies.
W hat does t he project cont ribute to
gender equalit y in examined regions and
worldw ide?
Data2X believes that efforts to achieve
gender equality must be underpinned by
solid evidence. W ithout complete data
about all people, women and girls and men
and boys, our efforts cannot and will not
succeed. Through this new project, we hope
to
spur
actionable,
country-specific
solutions to help fill gender data gaps ?
which will hopefully lead to data-informed
policies and programs with the goal of
gender equality at their core.

Col ors of
Soi l

A
social
organization
working
for
advocating and empowering the lives of
widows and single women.
Behind t he Name

Mitti Ke Rang, in Hindi means ?Colors of
Soil?symbolizing the diversity of soils which
form the foundation of this Earth. Similarly,
women too, come from various cultural
backgrounds and diverse households and
form the very foundation of our society.We
believe
that
?Toget her
we
are
St ronger?.MKR presents itself as a platform
of information and a network of
partnerships ?created on t he basis of
t rust ?amongst all those working towards
women
empowerment.

Mitti Ke Rang (MKR) Organization, with
widow empowerment and gender equality
at
its
focal
point.
Today we have Mitti Ke Rang centres in
Pakistan, Zambia, Gambia, Kenya, France,
Nigeria, Fiji, Singapore, Nepal and of course
India, with our primary centres at Pune and
Hadapsar. By the end of this year, centres
are being scheduled to open and start in
some of the states.
The story behind t he success and grow t h
of MKR
Amit founded Mitti Ke Rang (MKR) in 2014,
to address Gender Equality and widow
empowermentand toprovide widows

withresources and support.
?I lost my father when I was 3 years old. As I grew
older, I witnessed the challenges widows
and their children experience. Today, at the prime
age of 27, I have resolved to bring forth a permanent
change in thelives of widows and fatherless
children. Inspired from my mother?s unfailing
support, I startedmy organisation Mitti Ke Rang ?
which is now, working in countries across the
globe,rebuilding the lives of widowed and single
women and their children?.
He envisions a world where all single women and
widows are accepted by their families andlive in a
society where they shall be free to (re)build their
own life. His family was a great support
throughout.He thanks his grandfather for opening
up a tailoring shop for his mother, which proved to
be very valuable and helpful ,followed by his uncle
and cousins, who as he says, were the very reason
behind their survival despite the many problems
they came across.
Being a bright student, he wanted to pursue
engineering but had to shift to commerce, due to
financial constraints. Despite these constraints, he
finally landed a decent job after pursuing his
graduation in Commerce. He came to Pune with
1000 rupees and a B.Com degree in his hands. It
was the year 2012, and getting a good job was not a
cake walk. After struggling for a month and
appearing formany interviews, he got his first job.
His happiness knew no bounds! He worked hard
and after two years, when he felt a bit comfortable
financially, he rented a flat and called his mother to
come and stay with him, in 2014.?Conditions began
to improve once he started working and he climbed
the corporate ladder rather quickly and had a
lucrative career to look forward to.Amit tells Ananke
that ?Life hasn?t been fair to me, but it did not make
me a bitter person, on the contrary, I foundthe
mission of my life - to not let others go through the
same fear and uncertainty that I have been through.?
Just like how Rome wasn?t built in a day,similarly,
Amit?s organization wasn?t built in a day either. In
2014, when he along with his family, was living a

Founder, A mi t Jai n

somewhat better life, they realised that, now
is the time to give back to the support they
received from family members and other
supporters.
In the beginning, he didn't know whom to
contact and how to get Volunteers but one
fine day, an idea struck him whenheturned21,his cousins and family
members, helped him with clothes, books,
and other necessary essentials. Similarly,
people in big cities have a lot of things to
donate but aren?t aware of where and how
to do so.
He didn?t have any formal
experienceworking in the social sector,
hence, instead of dealing with a sensitive
issue to start with, he decided to primarily
gain some experience on the ground level.
Just like how his relatives funded his basic
essentials, he thought of ways in which he
could help other deprived families as
well.Thus, he decided to act as a mediator ?
between willing donors and the NGOs who
support poorer children andtheir families,
popularising his initiative through Facebook,
Twitter and other social media platforms.
Every weekend he would go to different
cities and collect clothes, books and other
items from the donors who got in touch with
him and later donate those to different
NGOs.W ithin the mere duration of just one

and a half years, his campaign spread like a
wildfire,involving more than 100 active
volunteers, following which he decided to
address the issue of gender inequality.
Thus, Mitti Ke Rang saw the light of day in
Pune.
That was the starting point. For a trial, he
posted on Quickr, got some inquiries, then
started posting on social media and
attended a few social events. During his
collection campaign, he met an auto-driver
in Indore, to whom he gifted his new shirt.
W hile exchanging contact numbers, he
excitedly told him about his campaign . To
his surprise, he volunteered, to take Amit
from door to door, for the collection drive, if
he was allowed to keep 20% of the items.
W hat he did with that 20% was unbelievable
- he distributed all of it amongst his
neighbours. His own wife, kids and mother
were over the moon to get new clothes?. In
one year they collected and distributed
more than 2000 clothes, books, furniture
and much more and this collection drive
gained many dedicated volunteers as
well.By the end of this year, centers have
been scheduled to open atmore countries.
Amit tells Ananke that ?Fortunately, I got to
know about the Commonwealth Youth
Summit and my application to be a member
of the Commonwealth Youth Council was

approved in 2017. I met with social workers
from over 40 countries at their annual
conference in Malaysia. My idea of gender
equality and rehabilitation of widows
influenced many of them, who
incorporated a similar campaign model in
their own countries?.
INITIATIVES UNDER MITTI KE RANG
1) Project Women.
We are working with women, organising
skill-based workshops for them, such as Rangoli designing, cloth and paper bag
making, creating idols for the upcoming
festivals, and handcrafting Diwali gifts.
The other segment of Project W idows is to
make these women aware about their
rights and benefits. We also have
occasional visits from our foreign
counterparts for cultural exchange
programs, who teach the women to read
and write.
2) Project Reading - De Coding
For the children, we have started a
community centre with a library. Recently,
Project Reading has integrated the
uneducated widows and senior citizens
from low-income backgrounds as well.
3) Project Advocacy
Creating awareness is of
primary importance
especially when it comes
to W idows and very few
people are working
towards it, while we as a
country have more than
42 Million W idows in
India. Therefore, it is very
imperative to create an
advocacy to involve
more people in helping
them.
4) Project Generat ing
Curiosit y

A mi t Jai n w i th Pri nce Ch arl es

Here we call speakers from different fields, twice a week, to interact with the students
and guide them with the correct knowledge for what they wish to become in future.
5) Project Hi tech Communit y learning resource center
One of its kind, a Hi Tech & a Community Co working space. This is the first time that in a
slum area we would be witnessing such a space. It won't be less than an actual
Corporate office/ Co working area.
Till 2020 - These will grow to 15 more Slums.
2020 - 2025 : We will be spreading across the globe, and have a vision to start a
minimum of 200 more of such in India and 15 other countries where we have our offices.
Affiliat ions
1) Hindustan Times 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs in Pune
2) Indian Correspondent - Your Commonwealth.org
3) Global Youth Ambassador - TheirWorld & World Literacy Foundation
4) Member - Asia Regional Working Group of the Commonwealth Students' Association
5) EX Extended Shaper ? Global Shapers Community Pune Hub ( World Economic Forum)
6) Co -Founder at Connecting 196 Countries
7) Member - Pune Austin Sister cities initiative

Mandy Sanghera is an international
human rights activist. Since 1990 she
has been supporting victims and
survivors of honour-based violence and
cultural abuse such as female genital
mutilation,
forced
marriages,
faith-based abuse and witchcraft.
As a human rights activist, Sanghera has
worked in various areas focusing on
cultural abuse and crimes. She has been
involved in documentaries on themes
such as witchcraft, forced marriages,
incest, female genital mutilation and
?honour?killings.
Sanghera was involved in writing the
guidelines on disability and HBV for the
Forced Marriages Unit. Until 2018, she
working with the European Parliament
on forced marriages, to prepare a report
based on the information from the 28
EU Member States and the selected
associated countries and will be
involved in the Goddard Child Abuse
Inquiryl. Sanghera is an ambassador and
advisor for several charities and social
groups such as Psychreg, and has
supported over 200 disabled adults who
have been forced into marriage. She
was one of the panel speakers at the
United States House of Representatives
and talked about honour based violence
and cultural abuse. Mandy was on the
team that worked on the "My Marriage
My Choice" project at the University of
Nottingham.
Mandy Sanghera has been invited to
speak at the United Nation on three
different panels during Commission on
the Status of Women in New York.
During
the
Commission?s
annual
two-week session, representatives of
UN Member States, civil society
organizations and UN entities gather at
UN headquarters in New York.
Mandy is an expert in various
development related fields. She has
been
driving
innovation, building
strategic
partnerships,
promoting
advocacy and programming in the areas

M andy Sangh era
Li f ti ng Women
of
human
rights,
gender
equality,
accountability and social justice globally.
Mandy has helped hundreds of individuals
and now reaches thousands through social
media and her generous amount of worldwide
TV appearances and public speaking
engagements.
Mandy has been asked by the the Punjabi
Chamber of Commerce to moderate a panel
with three women trailblazers. Talking about
the event, Mandy said: ?It?s wonderful to see
Asian woman leading the way globally and
great
to
be
moderating
the
panel
Mandy has most recently spoken at the House
of
Congress
in
Washington
Info: Wikipedia

Sex ual
Harassment
i n Ch i na
A nank e?s i ntern Yi w en Wang
f rom Ch i na w ri tes about th e
#metoo mov ement i n Ch i na.
Exposure to the issue of sexual harassmentin China has only
occurred recently, it started gaining attention in Jan. 2018.
Doctor Luo Qianqianfrom Beihang University alleged that her
advisor Chen Xiaowutook advantage of his position by
harassing students. Luo got hurt mentally because she was
about to be raped once by Chen. She searched online and
found out that there were lots of Chen?s students who had
suffered the same. Jan.1.2018, Luo had accused Chen with
her real-name of his harassment. Jan. 14, 2018, the
Administration of Education in China, cancelled the ?Yangtze
River Scholar? title (including the huge bonuses given) and
professor position (including all the other positions in the
university) of Chen. After this, the me-too campaign took off
in
China,
which
surprisingly
involves
education/ literature/ show business circles. People who

speak out about sexual harassment in this campaign are
mostly famous predecessors or leaders. Though the
harassment is easy for the perpetrators, the victims do
suffer a lot. Lin from Taiwan was harassed by her teacher at
the age of 13 and this led to depression, she took her own
life. Lots of women and girls quit school/ work, or even go
as far as committing suicide because of the harassment.
Harassment has serious consequences on a woman?s
well-being and her mental health is compromised. Women
and girls who get harassed usually don?t speak out
because they worry about their reputation and this leads to
mental health issues.
Jiang Fangzhou
Jiang Fangzhouwas born in 1989
in Hubei, China, and is the
deputy editor of Chinese young
writers and magazines. The
7-year-old writing, the 9-year-old
book, and the 11-year-old media
column make her the shining girl
in the eyes of the public. W hen
she was admitted to Tsinghua
University at the age of 18, she
published nine books.
Six months prior, Jiang Fangzhou
met with the editor of the same
publishing house. W hen she was
seated, the editor said to her
"Give up, you have no talent for
writing novels?. It's good to write
essays and read audio. If you do
these things, you have a natural
joy which you don't have in
novels. The editor believed that
Jiang Fangzhou struggled with
the text of the novel in
comparison to writing essays.
This was not the first time that
Jiang Fangzhou has suffered
from the "no talent" evaluation.
The outside world?s investigation
and
questioning
of
Jiang
Fangzhou?s writing was critical of her work. The new essay
"Tokyo One Year" score is 7 points, it seems to be a little
improved, but the first comment is: "If the author is not
Jiang Fangzhou, does the book have a chance to publish?"
At that time, Jiang Fangzhou still did not recognize the "no
talent" critique. She has talent in the writing of this super
marathon. But after years of questioning and critique of her
work, she began to feel hurt. W hen I was young, I traveled

with a lot of writers, what we discussed was uncertainty
about the future. Is writing continuing as a lifelong
career, or is it turned into a life outside of this?
The ?metoo? campaign in China
On July 25, 2018, a well-known media person, Zhang
Wen, was exposed of allegedly raping and threatening
girls. Later, Jiang Fangzhoupublicly voiced his story and
spoke about her own harassment by the same person.
"One morning in July 2018, I saw an article in a circle of
friends, a girl who wrote of her own sexual crimes, and
the person who committed these atrocities, had sexually
harassed me a few years ago, I was hesitant to speak
about my own experience. I hesitated for a second. W hat
I think is not what I think will affect me, but whether it is
useful to say about it.
I have considered two aspects. First, my voice can
increase the credibility of this matter for another victim.
Second, as a public figure, I am less controversial.
Because we have been educated since childhood, don't
take the lead, because the guns are the first birds, don't
lead the war, because they will ignite the upper body,
but I was a controversial person since I was a child. So, I
have learned how to do psychological construction for
myself, and in public opinion, it has not had such a big
impact on my daily life. However, for a non-public
woman, it is different. She will be discussed. She will be
torn apart from her daily life and will ruin her daily life.
She will be deprived of her daily life. And my voice will
protect her. After determining these two points, I sent an
article on social media. W hen I spoke of my own
experience, I got a lot of unexpected slamming.
However, there was also unexpected support and
encouragement. W hat surprised me even more was that
there were more girls who were harassed and violated
by the same male or who came out to testify
anonymously or publicly, and I and other victims also
adopted a legal approach.
This significant event had ended in a short time, but the
echo left to me was immense. W hat echoes to me the
most, is about silence, the silencing of voices who dare
speak out. Because I am writing novels and have been
writing for many years, I may have a stronger feeling of
language than others. W hen the protagonist of a novel
begins to talk about their own experience, is the
protagonist talking about the whole truth? Of course not.
W hat the protagonist says is only a part that the reader
chooses to believe. We want to define what kind of
person the character is like through the experience he
did not say. In daily life, there is also a classic concept in

narratology, called "unreliable narrator". It is said
that the protagonist of the novel does not
necessarily say the truth. How do we define the
protagonist of the novel? Not through what he
said, but guessing what he might not say.
We define ourselves the same. We define
ourselves not through the things we expose, but
through the things we hide. We don't want to
look directly at the parts of our hearts, those
scars, those secrets, those shame, those hidden.
Desire, in fact, these things define us, just like the
famous saying of Borges - "W hat we avoid, we
are like ourselves."
I have read only sociological work from China
that studies the sexually assaulted girl. There is a
detail that impressed me the most, and the most
uncomfortable detail, I am very sad, saying that a
victim may not tell anyone about sexual abuse,
not telling parents, not telling teachers, not
telling friends. Despite this, society will find that
victims will casually describe in the dirtiest and
most obscure words about sex which makes the
perpetrators seem innocent, degraded, vulgar,
and not guilty. The reality is that these hurt girls
and the words they learned is because of the
violations that have been infringed on them.
Yiwen Wang is from China, Hangzhou. She is an
intern at Ananke Magazine. She is a Junior
majoring in Information Engineering, but not so
engineering. She has high interest in Philosophy
and International Relations. She says ?I can?t
define myself quite clearly and don?t want to.
People always say that if you want to success, you
should have specific goals as early as possible.
But I refuse to foresee the future? because I enjoy
the process to see the variety and possibility right
now?.

Rose Mmbaga is from Kilimanjaro,
Tanzania. She is youth activist who
works closely with the world merit
platform
to
promote
sustainable
development goals around the globe.
She
is
very
passionate
about
empowering young girls and lifting
women to achieve their dream. This has
gained Rose recognition for her work
and she has been multi awarding
winning and her achievements include:
路 woman of influence in event hall of
fame with association for women in an
event in America in 2017
路 voted to receive 2017 Africa youth
awards for youth empowerment
路 named as one among 100 women as
star and Meghan award for lifting and
empowering women at lifts effect
conference in 2018, United Kingdom
路 named as 2018 most influential young
Tanzanian at advance media
Rose has used her voice in various
International conferences and global
campaigns.
She
supported
and
contributed to Ananke?s special edition
magazine for the international day of a
girl global campaign. She invited and
engaged young role models both men
and women from Tanzania and some
trailblazers from African countries to
share their perspective and stories.
Rose worked for several years with
different
charity
organisations
in
Tanzania to transform 1000's of young
people's mindset and to engage them
with volunteer work for UN sustainable
development project. Rose shared her
volunteer journey in schools and
universities to influence other youth
especially young girls to act on
personal development growth and give
back to their community.
Rose shares some advice to our readers
"yesterday I was a girl and today a
woman, there have been many lessons
on my journey and I?m proud to
celebrate my story and her story and
together we can # balanceforbetter.

Em pow er ed
Wom an
Em pow er s!

M el ani e Bubl yk ,
w ri tes a HERstory on
Rose M mbaga.

Nkechi Coker is a simple and relentless
woman, passionate about contributing to
making Africa a better place. She is a digital
strategist who manages Code for Africa's
(CfA) local open-data and civic technology
laboratory in Lagos, at Code for Nigeria
(CfN).
The lab, which has satellite teams in Abuja
and Benin City, consists of software
engineers, data analysts and
data
journalists who are helping build digital
democracy tools that empower watchdog
NGOs and the investigative media. The lab
also
coordinate's
Nigeria's
vibrant
Hacks/ Hackers
community
of
civic
'hactivists?and is custodian of the Wanadata
network of data scientists and data
journalists.
Prior to joining CfN, Nkechi worked with the
Microsoft's philanthropy team in Nigeria,
building on her earlier work as the head for
the Edo State Government's open data
initiative, where she spearheaded the
establishment of Nigeria's first open
government
portal
at
http:// data.edostate.gov.ng/ .
Outside of her CfN work, Nkechi is a
founding member of the grassroots Sabi
Hub collective in Benin City, which supports
youths to use technology to tackle
developmental challenges through social
entrepreneurism. Through this platform,
they are contributing to reducing the
unemployment level in Nigeria. She has led
the training and incubating of over 100
businesses in the south of Nigeria while
provide coworking space and community
activities for them in Benin city.
Aware that technology never stops
evolving, Nkechi is currently studying
towards a M.Sc in Information Systems
Management at the University of Salford, in
Manchester. She already has a Bachelor of
Engineering (electrical) from the University
of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Her pioneering
work has seen her featured and mentioned
in various feats including:

Nk ech i Cok er
A ch ange mak er i n
STEM
Chiamaka Adinnu marks the International
Women's Day (IWD2019) by celebrating
visionary women in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math?s such as Nkechi Coker,
a Nigerian Open Data analyst.
Policy Design Curricula as a Data Champion
- Featured by the World Bank as one of the four
leading Women of Open Data in Africa
- School of Data Fellow, 2015
- Open Data Institute?s Open Data Leader?s
Network (ODLN) as a government change
agent
- The Future Africa Award prize in Public
Service 2014 and 2015

Recognized on # YNaijaPowerList for
- Listed as one of the 100 most influential Corporate
Governance in Nigeria
young Nigerians in 2018
- Recognized as one of the SME 100 young
- Mandela Washington Fellow 2016
enterprising women of 2014 in Nigeria
- Global Shaper of the World Economic
- Finalist, Mckinsey Next Generation Women
Forum Cape Town Hub
Leaders?Award
- Featured in Harvard Center for Evidence

Daria: Evgeniya, thank you for the readiness of your cooperation with Ananke Magazine.
Now you are the President of PRO Women community. To begin with, please tell our
readers about the community. The purpose of creating a community, its values, and
members?
Evgeniya: The PRO Women community is an initiative of the Rybakov Foundation (a
Russian non-profit organization which aims to support entrepreneurs). The main goal of
PRO Women community is to unite women and promote changes in their lives and
environment. Due to mutual support, exchange of competencies and resources,
association and collective responsibility, girls and women develop their projects, which
are very often social and aimed at improving the quality of life.
Daria: The PRO Women community is built on creating interest groups, right? Please tell
us how this community building helps women in their development?
Evgeniya: These are not exactly interest groups in common sense. PRO Women
community is based on a group of like-minded people who are ready for development.
There is something in common with the psychological groups of support, where you are
obviously accepted for who you are and do not devalue your ideas. In groups, we share
our experience in solving certain issues or situations. We get the support of even the
most insane ideas and are not afraid to make a mistake with a new business project. And
collective responsibility forces one to move forward and not to leave ideas preventing of
giving up. Plus, it is a huge boost of energy.
Daria: Evgeniya, our congratulations regarding your assignment to a position of the
community?s President. Please tell us about your career story and the way you manage
to combine the position of the President and motherhood?
Evgeniya: Now I have three big projects if we can call it like that: I am a mother of two
children (4 and 1 year old), I am also co-founder of digital agency and I am a President of
the community of women which means that I am a public figure.

Honestly, I do not have a formula for success. Everything is very interconnected. I have
children and I communicate with many women in the same position. I was initially not
interested in focusing my life just around my children. This is my inner need to do more, it is
important that there are many happy people around me. Hence the perfectionism in the
work, it is important for me to make my clients happy with my work and enjoy the joint
result. Not everyone can afford to pay for the services of my agency, so I teach start-up
entrepreneurs the basics of promotion on the Internet. They understand what part of the
work they can do themselves and which part is better to outsource. Not everyone
understands whether to delegate this work to contractors or not, then I advise, helping to
sort out this issue. I am always very worried that unscrupulous contractors may get caught
by someone and try to warn them as much as possible by telling some cases or news from
the digital world. Once in the community of pro-women, I really wanted to help girls not to
be disappointed in their idea, help to count, help present a picture of the ideal world.
Conversely, I received a lot of energy of gratitude and actions that made me deepen my
professional knowledge and give more. So, I came to the position of President of the
community and now I try to inspire and help women of the whole country and abroad to
develop themselves because groups of ProWomen are also formed in other countries. Well,
children are just always with me accompanying me at events and meetings, thereby
contemplating new interiors and new children's zones that are interesting for them, new
people. I am lucky, and my children are very sociable and self-sufficient. They do not always
need 100% of my attention, it is enough to know that I am near, and they are waiting for a
new quest and a new journey.
Daria: A popular topic today relates to female leadership. What is your vision of female
leadership? What characteristics does it include?
Evgeniya: Indeed, a very popular phrase. I don?t want female leadership to be tied to the
military leader?s concept. In my understanding, a woman as leader certainly has the
qualities to lead. And they relate more to the soul than to the steel character. For me, a
female leader is wise, self-sufficient, harmonious, honest with herself, with great potential of
love and energy, which she generously shares without expecting anything in return.
Daria: One of the hot topics in the world today is the role of women in economic
development. Please tell us your attitude about the situation with the development of

female entrepreneurship in Russia?
Evgeniya: W ith
the
birth
of
children,
entrepreneurship becomes logical for many
women. After all, they can evenly distribute the
time between work and children, they do not
need to ask for leave from the employer or
endure the sidelong glances of colleagues when
the child has once again become ill and the
woman as the employee cannot physically
attend the workplace. Then women change their
priorities with the birth of children. Social projects
are often born from a lack of some services in
their field of vision. So, there is an appearance of
new
educational programs for children,
rehabilitation and sports centers, businesses
focused on clients with children. Fortunately, the
state is now supporting such women by
simplifying the taxation system and from this year
such status as ?self-employed? appeared. These
are not entrepreneurs in the common sense of
the word, but people who earn money on their
services, for example, tutors. Their activities have
become legal now.
Daria: Can a woman be successful in business
while maintaining her femininity? What do you
think?
Evgeniya: Yes, of course! The severity and ability
to defend their rights have no effect on the
reduction of femininity. On the contrary, femininity
helps in business. Business just needs more
responsibility, which is very natural for a woman
because she got used to being responsible not
only for herself, but also for her family and
children, and business is just another child for her.
Daria: The theme of the International Women's
Day 2019 according to UN: "Think equal, build
smart, innovate for a change." The topic is very
relevant and is intended to emphasize the role of
women in the global community. What do you
think about this topic?
Evgeniya: I have already said that many women
operate their businesses from the standpoint of
changing the existing environment. Many people
think about rational consumption. For example,
one of the participants of the ProWomen
community initiated a project to collect waste
paper in offices. To recycle paper, you need to
collect a ton, and small offices simply cannot
afford to store such volumes to hand it over for
recycling. Virtually every female business is
directed to social needs. Of course, now we live

in a wonderful time when we do not need to
survive, and we can concentrate on the
development of society. So historically, the
main task of women was raising children.
Today, women can perform this function
globally promoting changes in society by
creating new approaches to education,
cultivating rational use of resources, and
creating an accessible environment.
Daria: The 2019 theme is intended to draw
attention to innovative ways to achieve gender
equality and the empowerment of women,
including
through
building
such
an
infrastructure. Tell us, please, what activities
are carried out by the PRO Women community
in this direction?
Evgeniya: Difficult question for me. The fact is
that I have never felt the gender superiority on
the part of men. We have always entered any
business relationship as equal partners. I do not
really understand this wording - gender
equality. Men, on the other hand, have not yet
learned how to give birth to children and
cannot feel for themselves everything that a
woman feels. I am for respect in society. This is
the main thing that helps us move. The PRO
Women community continues to develop and
unite women, new cities join us every month.
More and more women want to share and unite.
We support them from our side preparing new
methodologies for working in groups, creating a
convenient environment for communication,
consolidating useful information for the
development of both personality and business.
For example, In April, a forum for leaders will be
held in Moscow, where leaders from all over
Russia will meet to exchange experience. Now
we are preparing for them an interesting
educational program so that they can unite
even more women in their cities.

GLORI A K A SI ODA M A
THE CONFI DENCE SELLER

Have you alw ays w anted to be a dent ist ? If
not , w hat did you init ially w ant to be?
Growing up as a teenager, I had always wanted
something different. I wanted to study a course
uncommon to my gender and colleagues. At
first, I went for an Engineering course
immediately after high school but didn't scale
through. Biochemistry, and Microbiology were
my other options. An uncle suggested that I try
out Dental School, with the hope I may end up
enjoying the course. At first, I was skeptical, I
was depressed from admission frustrations,
but in order not to stay back at home for an
extra year, I decided to give Dental School a
shot.
How do you view your career as a dent ist ? Is
it a lifelong career?
Yes, I think Dentistry is a lifelong Career path
for me, as I keep seeing possibilities of
achieving a whole lot more through this Career.
Choosing this path of career wasn't my initial
plan, but like they say; "life happens when you
are busy making other plans". The beauty of
this career orchestration for me is that I keep
discovering how to give back my genuine
quota to humanity through Dentistry.
In your career, w ho inspires you t he most and
w hy?
There are a lot of Senior colleagues in the
Profession that inspire me, not just an
individual. First is my Mentor, Obafemi Samuel Jennifer who is known as 'Jennysmiles'.
I remain grateful for the privilege of serving
under her leadership, at a time I was clueless
on what the future held for me in this Career.
She exposed me immediately upon graduation
from Dental School to different creative ways
of making unforgettable impacts both for
Humanitarian purposes and at the Clinic
setting.
The second woman that inspires me still on
this career path is Dr. Amy Shumbusho, an
Orthodontist. I love the fact that Dr. Amy is
always on the lookout for trends in Dentistry,
she attends International Dental Conferences,
travels to interact and see how Dentistry is
practiced in other countries and comes back
home to equip her Team of Dental
Professionals with these trends. I love these
women because they are setting the pace, and
it gives me hope and courage to move on.

W hat programmes have you at tended so far?
Are t here Organizat ions you volunteer w it h? If
so, please list t hem out .
There are a handful of programs I have
attended both in my Sphere, and outside it. I
love to be productive and so, I always yearn to
learn new or better ways of doing things. I
currently
volunteer
for
Smilesdotcom
Foundation, and Oak Aid Foundation but
worked in collaboration with Creative Care
Foundation, Inyang Otu Foundation, Amanator
Youths Initiative e.t.c.
W hich
programs/ fellow ships/ healt h
workshops as related to dent ist ry would you
love to at tend if you were given t he
opport unit y to?
If given the opportunity, I would love to attend
Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Afrika
Youth Movement, Future Dentistry conference
in June 2019.
W here do you see yourself in t he next five
years in your career?
I see myself become an author of several
Dental handbooks, story books and the
Director of Southeast go-to Dental outfit or
Spa. I see myself become so relevant in Dental
Health field, not just in Nigeria but also, Africa.
W hat led you into st art ing t he Oak Aid
foundat ion? Tell us a lit t le about Oak Aid.
Oak Aid Foundation was conceived out of my
passion for humanity. Our mission is to put
smiles on faces of both Nigerians and Africans
through Dental Awareness/ treatment projects,
and Humanitarian Aids.
W hat is t he inspirat ion behind t he name
chosen for your foundat ion?
I chose the name Oak from the phrase 'Oak
tree' because it is a firmly rooted tree that can
withstand any form of disaster yet provides
shade with its broad branches. As one who is
passionate about humanity, I wanted to form a
team of visionaries who would be willing to
spread across our Humanitarian aids to all, but
especially to the underprivileged or unreached
irrespective of their class or location.
W hat is your greatest achievement w it h Oak
Aid foundat ion so far?
One of our achievements that makes my heart
merry is the provision of over One thousand (1,
000) free Sanitary Pads to Secondary School

girls without Sponsors and a peaceful walk for
creation of awareness against some cultural
practices surrounding menstruation, in Enugu
State Nigeria. Also, since inception stage Our
Dental Awareness and treatment projects, have
been able to reach out to over 7,000 people in
different
communities,
schools,
and
Organizations.
W here do you see Oak aid foundat ion in t he
next five years?
Oak Aid Foundation is spreading out to reach
more people within Nigeria, and other African
Countries. In five years? time, we would have
started living out our dream of training Health
Workers and certifying them as Auxiliary Dental
personnel in all unreached communities within
our reach. We want to cover the gap of only
visiting these rural dwellers once a year or in two
years by setting up at least one 'Dental care
center' where people can easily have access to
Dental treatments at a low cost.
W hat words of advice do you have for t he
young girls out t here w ishing to st art up a
career such as yours?
In the world we live in, I as an individual believe
that everyone's got a part to play, if you must
etch your name in the sands of time. My advice
to younger ladies is Self-Discovery! Like I earlier
shared, I didn't choose this path from onset, but
along the line, I developed genuine likeness for
it, especially being around people who are doing
well in my Career from whom I can draw
inspiration that leaves me excited about my
future. Dear Ladies, your dreams are valid. Start
out with one, be known for a thing, then with
time you can diversify if need be.
Any ot her t hing you'd like to add?
Service is everything. W hatever your hands find
to do, do with all diligence.

Her Way To Th e Top
Hira Ali, author of the book Her Way To
the Top; a multifaceted coach who has
trained and coached women across the
globe and who has already been
published in leading outlets such as
Huffpost,
Women@Forbes
and
Entrepreneur Women and whose blogs
have been shared by Arianna Huffington
herself says that she is overwhelmed with
gratitude to see such a great turn out and
absolutely thrilled to witness such
outpouring of love and support for her
book from the key players of the industry.
The book launch of what many describe
as a popular and pioneering book - Her
Way To The Top, had its official launch at
in London, sponsored and hosted by
Norton Rose Fulbright, one of the biggest
and most well reputed law firms in
London.
There were several notable key speakers
at the event that included Carole Stone
popularly quoted in Telegraph as UK's
most connected woman and former
British producer of BBC Radio 4?s current
affairs discussion
programme
Any
Questions; Cherron Inko-Tariah MBE - The
CEO of The Power of Staff Networks
Consultancy and the founder of the
National Day for Staff Networks; Helen
Bogie - Chair of Women's Network at
Norton Rose Fulbright, Dr. Yvonne
Thompson CBE- Chair of The Radio
Academy, Founder of W inTrade Week &
Steering
Committee
Member
for
Women?s Equality Party also frequently

referred to as "Britain's first black self-made
woman millionaire and award winning author and
publisher Mindy Gibbens.
Her Way To The Top has created a buzz owing to
its outstanding reviews and has even made it to
the local news. Some of the reviewers included
global influencers such as Marshall Goldsmith,
Valerie Young, Dr. Lois P. Frankel, Cherie Blair,
Ziauddin Yousafzai (Malala's dad) Chaira Condi,
Jennifer W illey- gender equality expert and many
more.
Other distinguished guests that attended the
event included Diahanne Rhiney founder of Baton
Awards, LinkedIn UK's top voices- Carol Stewart &
Alexandra Galviz, Camden Branch Leaders of the
Women's Equality Party- Leah and Emma, Former
Deputy Minister of Maldives - Mariya Ali,
Leadership expert Jenny Garrett, senior members
of the government and industry including Advisor
to the Mayor-Nathan as well as the first youngest
Asian Female Governor of Prison- Saj Zafar and
many other inspiring women entrepreneurs.

Woman - A pi l l ar of strength at
h ome and th e corporate w orl d
?A w oman i s th e f ul l ci rcl e. Wi th i n h er i s th e pow er to
create nurture and transf orm,?
? Di ane M ari ech i l d
Like any other woman, I play several roles, as a strategic decision maker at OYO Hotels &
Homes, a responsible mother, a wife, a daughter, and a social citizen. Today, due to the
fast-paced environment each component of life demands equal attention. How do you
balance all these roles? Well, that comes with years of experience both at home and in the
corporate arena. It took me a few years and I am yet to master it.
I never envisioned myself to be a part of the hospitality industry, it was a pleasant surprise
though. Currently, I work as the Country Head at OYO Hotels & Homes, looking after close
to 20 hotels and 25 homes in the UAE. I started working with them 6 months ago, and
during this period we have grown the team from 10 to over 50. As a woman, the experience
of multitasking comes as an added advantage and helps in managing the expectation
levels of several stakeholders.
In my very first organization, I was fortunate to be able to break several glass-ceilings by
being the first female manager in the factory. It was a great learning opportunity for me as I
could share my knowledge at the right forums with equal finesse working with my more
experienced male counterparts and it motivated me to steer ahead in life.
Then came a turning point in my life, when working with one of the top consulting firms, I
got an opportunity to contribute to a project for the African markets in the public health
domain. I worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and several donor
organisations such as USAID, GAVI, multiple governments, and the private sector. I was
proud to be assigned with the responsibility to create a supply chain blueprint for the
healthcare industry in developing countries including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria,
and other African countries. This project was very dear to my heart, as I was playing a
completely different role while adding value to the community.
?International Women?s Day?serves as an annual reminder to the world to celebrate what
women around the world have already achieved and that we still have a long way to go, a

lot to do to support women in all walks of
life. Globally, the glass ceiling still exists,
for some in the form of a physical limit
and for others it is more of a
psychological limit that we women
ourselves conceive in our mind. As a
result, women around the world need to
work twice as hard to not just finish their
job but ensure they don?t reinforce any
stereotype.
Having said that, our representation in
the mid to senior management roles has
considerably increased in the last
decade and will continue to rise in the
coming
years.
Several
women
entrepreneurs have been at the helm of
multiple tech-based success stories,
globally and locally and it is a welcome
sign of the changes that are yet to come.
Let these stories further encourage other
women to take up significant roles in
organisations.
Finally, it is important to believe in your
capabilities, and for women, even sky is
not the limit as we have ventured into
space already.
Vartika Goel, Country Head, UAE, OYO
Hotels & Homes.

A nank e?s I l si i a I del baev a i nterv i ew s
M al i h a A bbas A bi di , a young, up and
comi ng arti st and auth or of th e book
'Pak i stan f or Women', w h i ch cel ebrates
ex traordi nary w omen of Pak i stan
th rough th ough t-prov ok i ng HERstori es
and v i brant i l l ustrati ons.

Tell us about yourself and your life
journey.
I was born and raised in (southern, port
city of) Karachi, Pakistan. At 14, I moved to
California (USA) and at 21, I moved to the
UK where I have been living for the past
two years. My father is an engineer by
practice and his support has influenced
my journey immensely. I am a
professional artist, but have never
academically studied it. I am currently
studying neuroscience in England and
moved here after actually getting married.
I have been creating art for as long as I
can remember but began posting online
back in 2012 and that is when I started
working as a professional artist. I have
worked with companies like Adobe, UN
Women and Peace Corporation focusing
women?s empowerment as that is what I
like to work with. I would like to think that
my artsy side comes from my dad who is
very creative. He has always encouraged
me to express myself artistically and so
has my husband. I have been incredibly
lucky to have the support of my family,
my grandparents, aunts and uncles, in
everything I do.
W hat inspired you to st art your
professional journey as a feminist art ist ?
At a very early age, I was drawn to colours
and of filling any surface, a canvas, a wall,
a piece of paper with my ideas and
whatever I?d like. I have been working on
art
that
focuses
on
women?s
empowerment for a while, thematically or

in a series. Even if you pick up and
look at some of my oldest works, I
do a series of 8-10 pieces
showcasing a certain culture or
strong figures. W hen I started
posting my work on social media, I
saw
its impact
through
the
messages I received in response and
the way people felt when they
viewed my work. The more attention
it received, the more I saw it being a
voice for many issues that can use
our support.
I believe, because of social media,
we all have a platform to share a
voice and contribute to the things we
believe in.
Congrat ulat ions for penning an
amazing
book
?Pakist an
For
Women: Stories of women w ho
achieved somet hing ext raordinary?.
How did you first t ime come up
w it h t he idea of w rit ing such book?
Can you briefly tell us about t he
book it self?
I decided to write and illustrate
?Pakistan for Women?because being
a Pakistani, I see there is a lot of
talent in my country and stories of
excellence. Being a feminist, I see
many women in Pakistan who we
should
be
showcased
and
celebrated.
From
mountaineers
to
astrophysicists
to
educators,
Pakistan has amazing HERstories
and this book advocates the idea
that if these Pakistani women can
achieve their dreams through hard
work and dedication, so can all the
girls, reading their stories. It is the
first book of its kind to be published
in Pakistan. It celebrates women
from all walks of life.
I have always done series on
cultures and women consisting of
8-10 pieces of work but this time I
wanted something more extensive.
W hen I started to make a list of

names, it extended to 80 women. The list could have
easily been of 1000 names.
How did you decide w hich female t railblazer to
choose for your book?
As a feminist, I stay up to date with stories of strong
women. I knew about some in detail, some I was just
kind of familiar with and some I learned about through
my research once I took on this project. My goal was to
represent diversity, talent and the spirit Pakistan through
the stories of these women and with more than 50 of
them in this book, I have achieved that.
In your book t railer you have ment ioned t hat it is t he
first book of it s kind in Pakist an. Regarding to t hat ,
were t here challenges you faced along t he w ay?
There haven?t been any challenges of that sort but the
response from my own people and even people from
other countries has been incredibly supportive.
Challenges were more of an artistic nature where if I
thought a certain portrait was not not capturing a
woman?s story, I would start from square one and try to
perfect it until I achieved what I was after. Some of the
portraits I drew four to five times because I was not

happy but ultimately, I am happy with all the
stories and illustrations in the book.
W hat do you w ant people to t ake aw ay from
your art works and your book? W hat impact
w ill your book have on empowering women,
part icularly in Pakist an?
In some cultures, I have seen parents or elders
discourage little girls from pursuing a certain
profession or follow their passions. Reasons
vary from household responsibilities to a matter
of family honor or because they say that our
country is poor, and so no one here can achieve
much. Not only this, but Pakistan has a certain
reputation and it doesn?t reflect the reality. Yes,
there are problems but what country doesn?t
have problems? And so to challenge that
reputation, and to challenge everyone who
discourage girls, here is a book of more than 50
real women who have done something great for
Pakistan, and they have not only changed the
way our country is progressing but have also
broken endless boundaries. So we must
celebrate our women and through the
examples of those who have done great things,
we must encourage our girls to do amazing
things in life as well.
Anyt hing you w ish to add?
Yes, I have sometimes seen people say that
men in countries like Pakistan oppress women.
In my experience and through learning stories
of these women, I have learnt that their biggest
supporter were their fathers. Even in my case,
my father, my grandfather, my husband, my
uncle Sajjad, all these men in my life have been
the biggest support and I would like to point
out that if you are man, support your women.
That being said, it does happen but that is not
the full truth.

W ith a rapidly changing global economy, leaders are urgently seeking an effective
method to sustain economic growth. W hile geography, industry, and technology are
important considerations, gender is an imperative factor that cannot be ignored. Talent is
critical to staying competitive, and with over70 percent of the UAE?s university graduates
being female, utilising this pool of talent is essential.
A study by McKinsey & Company found that international companies with more women
on their corporate boards far outperformed the average company in return on equity and
other measures while operating profit was 56% higher than those boards that didn?t have
more women.
W hile we celebrate the achievements made towards narrowing the gender gap,
continuing efforts are necessary to accelerate progress. The Private Sector must develop
sustainable strategies aimed at integrating women at every level.
Organisations that integrate women at every level will no doubt have a competitive
advantage, yielding a significant gender dividend for their organisations. Greater gender
equality means empowering women at all levels, that includes confronting challenges of
their cohesive society, their economic competitiveness, their national identity, their
health, education, environment and well-being.
The Pearl Initiative reinforces its commitment to building a stronger culture of corporate
governance in the Gulf Region?s Private Sector, so they can realise their goals of gender
diversity and inclusion in the workplace more effectively.

On the occasion of the International Women?s Day, Sheikh Khalid bin Sultan bin
Muhammad Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Urban Planning Council (SUPC), extended
his deepest gratitude and felicitations to the council?s female workforce, commemorating
the history of achievements of women all over the world that have led to the successful
growth and development of societies and economies.
He explained: ?On this day, we take the opportunity to reflect on how far the world has
come in transforming businesses, politics and societies aligned with the mindsets and
cultures of gender diversity, women equality and equity. SUPC prides itself in being
among the leading government entities in the region and the world who are working
towards the complete empowerment and enrichment of women and their career
ambitions under the wise directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sutlan bin Muhammad Al
Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council Ruler of Sharjah, and his wife Her Highness
Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for
Family Affairs,.?
He concluded: ?We continue to move forward with initiatives and career programs, under
a vision instilled by the emirate of Sharjah, providing our female workforce equal career
development opportunities. We believe that excellence and success for any organisation
can only take place if a proper diverse organisation structure is in place; where women
are leading ideas, projects, teams as well as entire businesses.?